The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee hosted a Membership Meeting on Thursday, November 16. The biannual event brings together the nearly 140 member organizations that comprise the USBC and work collaboratively to drive policy and practice changes that create a landscape of breastfeeding support. 
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At the opening of the meeting, Dr. Scott Hartman, on his final day as a member of the USBC Board of Directors, delivered the "Mission Moment." This is a meeting-opening practice that serves to connect our work to the people we serve and the positive and impactful change we seek. Thank you, Scott, for grounding us, giving us hope about what is possible, and guiding us in what we can do right now! Read the transcript below. 

Hello everyone, I’m Scott Hartman, and I use he/him pronouns. I am on my last day of serving on the board of USBC. We talk about taking space and making space – and it’s my time to make space for others to step up and step in to have their voices heard. That said, I am forever grateful that I was given the opportunity to serve on the board of this amazing organization, this coalition of coalitions. 
 
September was National Preparedness Month. We are on the tail end of a global pandemic – it’s not truly over, but we finally have ways to protect people and families. 
 
In the early months of the pandemic, we didn’t know if it was safe to keep breastfeeding dyads together when there was a concern for possible COVID exposure or disease, and medical guidelines reflected a separation-oriented approach. As the evidence emerged around the effectiveness of masking and vaccines, USBC — through its Collective Impact model — created a story tool by which we were able to rapidly document the impact of the pandemic, as well as medical guidelines, on families and communities.
 
Thankfully, USBC’s longstanding relationships with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other influential agencies allowed for continual feedback and conversation as guidelines were revised in response to evolving evidence. Together, the USBC membership and partners were able to contribute important stories that informed and advocated for practices supportive of parental and infant bonding and human milk feeding in the midst of this awful pandemic. And we continue to maintain our emergency response working group – known as the Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Constellation - that will continue to use the USBC Collective Impact model in efforts to support families in future national emergencies.
 
As the USBC, we are a network that respects the voices of all stakeholders, and especially aims to center those of the most marginalized. We’ve spent the last few years in a state of transformation into new ways of thinking that center equity, and NOW - USBC is moving into a phase of renewal and rebirth. 
 
So, with the assurance of things hoped for and evidence of things not yet seen … We continue to advance equity in the infant and young child feeding arena — and beyond. 
 
In this NEW phase of the USBC we will envision and work for a world that embodies justice and liberation for all – without exception!

​How you can have your voice heard: The USBC is funded to develop a National Blueprint outlining a 5-year plan for advancing infant nutrition security and eliminating breastfeeding disparities. The Listening Sessions will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to the plan’s development, outlining a vision for comprehensive societal promotion, protection, and support for breastfeeding and infant nutrition security and the steps that are needed to achieve it, with a particular focus on identified priority populations, including LGBTQIA and BIPOC people. 
 
If you are interested in participating, register to share your perspectives and insights during one of the six upcoming listening sessions, and be sure you are subscribed to USBC email alerts to be notified about other opportunities. Take it a step further by joining the USBC membership. Organizations that are led by and serving BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) or other identified priority populations are eligible for complimentary membership through the Creating Space Scholarship. 

Camille Abbe, Director of Strategic Partnerships at USBC, interviewed Kimberly about Native American Heritage Month. The following is a script of their conversation.

Camille: November is Native American Heritage Month, a time dedicated to honoring the history and continuing invaluable contributions of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people in the United States. What does this month mean to you?
 
Kimberly: Native American Heritage Month is a time to recognize and honor the resiliency and the contributions of culture, spirituality, innovation, and diversity of first peoples, those of us indigenous to this land since time immemorial, way before Western colonialism shaped what is now the United States. This includes stories of triumph, fortitude, and resistance as well as loss, hardships, and betrayal. It is a time of reflection on the past, present, and future for Native people, for our clans, tribes, nations, and our Mother Earth.
 
I remember a time just over forty years ago, when my great grandparents were still alive, living in a hogan, speaking only Dine’ Bizaad. I was a little girl playing with my cousins and I could see my grandparents doing daily chores. One fond memory was watching my great-grandmother sitting by piles of sheep wool to spin and clean, preparing to make her Navajo rug. I sat next to her picking up small pieces of wool to brush just until the wool became soft and silky. My mom told me she would harvest plants for natural dyes. She also knew plant medicines and was a healer in the community. I reflect often about the importance of the natural ecosystem, and the one that she created for her family.
 
During the early 1900s, a Seneca Native advocated for an “Indian Day” to be recognized in New York, as well as many others who have advocated for their people throughout the era; it took nearly a century for Native American Heritage Month to be officially established in the United States. Indigenous peoples have made significant contributions to agriculture, science, art, music, entrepreneurship, and public health in this nation. Today, generations later, many of us are reclaiming our community health initiatives and creating space for healing while acknowledging the impact that relocation, forced assimilation, and lack of critical funding have had on Indigenous communities across the country. Every month, not only in November, we seize the opportunity to teach the Nation about Native American history along with advocating for a more just and equitable future for those who’ve had many of their indigenous ways stolen or swept under the rug.
 
Camille: What are the key issues Native communities are facing when it comes to lactation, infant feeding, and maternal and infant health?
 
Kimberly: There are several key issues that Native communities face when it comes to lactation, infant feeding, and maternal and infant health, including discrimination or gatekeeping by organizations with insufficient support systems, initiatives that should be Native-led but are not, inadequate mental health screening during the perinatal period, misclassification in data collection, the invisibility of Native people, and many injustices in environmental policies and law.
 
One major crisis right now is the maternal mortality rate as Native mothers are dying at a much higher rate than the national average. It was shown that 92% of those deaths could have been prevented. Ninety-two! It’s heartbreaking. The three major causes of death were hemorrhage, suicide, and overdose. There has been a Maternal Mortality Review Committee formed in various states, however, none of them had a Native American/Indigenous Team or person as the primary lead, nor are they engaging in the pain-staking nuanced work of inclusivity, which requires direct and culturally-sensitive engagement in the remote areas of reservations to include respectful partnerships with grassroots organizations. This effort will identify what works for us, and how we can explore solutions - this invisibility is deeply problematic when it comes to health issues.
 
Camille:  Can you speak about how historical injustices contribute to today’s challenges?
 
Kimberly: Colonization had a devastating impact on Native American communities and families. What was once a thriving civilization rooted in spirituality, oral tradition, cultural practices, and relationship to the ancestral land has been decimated due to unjust acts of violence, stolen land, broken treaties, removal of children, the dismantling of the family structure, and ultimately, the genocide of Native peoples. It is important to understand Native American history and the associated traumas that continue to negatively impact our Native societies. We face health disparities, lack of funding for quality standards of health care, racism, inequitable mental health care, and a lack of resources. Our Congressional Delegation in both the Senate and House are quick to appropriate billions for overseas spending to secure international occupation but will fight tooth and nail against voting to increase spending on their domestic obligations. When we look at how culture has been stripped away, land has been stolen, and families have been separated, we can begin to understand why we see the issues that we do today, like maternal and infant mortality, suicide, substance abuse, missing and murdered indigenous women, and invisibility of our two-spirit relatives. As native people, we don’t have the privilege to take on just one part of the issues affecting us, because we are affected by all things and we are all things. We are the land, we are the water, the plants, our animal relatives, the cosmos, and living beings.
 
Camille: How can organizations support and stand in solidarity with your work and with Native American communities?
 
Kimberly: When an organization has an opportunity to fund a program or project or partake in equitable research, learn about the communities you are serving along with their stories, fund the programs that are grassroots and establish respectful partnerships with them. Convey the information to the communities on the ground level so that they have ownership over what needs to be done for their own community and continue to be an ally and advocate as well as grow your knowledge. At the end of the day, we’re people first.

Camille: Thank you so much, Kimberly, for sharing your memories and your insights. Also, thank you for your support as we embark on planning our upcoming Infant Nutrition Security Listening Sessions.

To kick off the year, the USBC hosted the Welcome Congress Campaign, sending a package of materials, including their state or territory's breastfeeding report to the offices of every Senator and Representative. This effort was designed to educate legislators about the state of breastfeeding nationally and in their district, the role policymakers play in protecting infant nutrition security, and the five most pressing policy areas in need of attention this congressional session:

• Federal Funding for Breastfeeding
• Infant Nutrition Security
• Access to Lactation Support and Supplies
• Support for Breastfeeding in Workplaces
• Maternity Care Practices

Since 2012, Congress has allocated funds to the CDC Hospitals Promoting Breastfeeding program. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses these funds to improve maternity care practices, increase access to peer and professional support, ensure continuity of breastfeeding care, increase support for breastfeeding employees, and address disparities in breastfeeding rates. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, our collective efforts helped us maintain level funding of $9.75 million for this line item.

• A big thank you to the 121 organizations that signed on to our joint letter and the hundreds of individuals who joined our call for Congress to invest in breastfeeding as a public health imperative in FY23!

While we are grateful for this crucial funding, we know that a much larger investment is needed to meet the needs of today's families. The FY24 federal budget is still under negotiation and the USBC and our network are working hard to demonstrate the importance of this funding.

• Thousands of individuals have used our easy action tools to call on policymakers to invest in breastfeeding and an incredible 194 organizations signed on to this year's organizational sign-on letter.
• Please take a moment to use our easy action tool to contact your Senators and Representative today!

The USBC is monitoring and mobilizing action to support funding for a variety of other federal programs that support lactation, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The Senate and House-passed Agriculture Appropriations bills include different overall funding levels for the WIC program, with the Senate bill including $6.3B for WIC and the House bill including only $6B. Both the House and Senate bills include $90M for the WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program. A recent analysis projects that without significant additional investments, state WIC agencies would be forced to turn away an estimated 600,000 participants.

• Take action with USBC member MomsRising!