The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) is excited to launch the Creating Space Scholarship. The scholarship supports our efforts to create a vibrant membership network of organizations working at every level of the system and reflecting the needs and diversity of families and communities across the nation.

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Creating Space Scholarship will allow the USBC to award 100 organizations with complimentary membership for 2023. Awardees that engage in membership meetings or other USBC activities can renew the scholarship for up to five years as funding allows.

​The scholarship is open to organizations that meet the following criteria:

• new USBC membership applicant,
• led by and serving BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) or other priority populations, and
• have an operating budget of less than $250,000. 

​CRASH, USBC's equity committee, defines priority populations as people and communities that have been marginalized and oppressed. These groups are more likely to experience systemic inequities related to lactation care and have breastfeeding rates that are disproportionately low, misconstrued, or undocumented. Delivering on our commitment to create a landscape of breastfeeding support across the United States requires that we center the needs of these groups in our efforts.
 
Standing by the ethos of Nothing About Us Without Us, we recognize organizations standing for these communities must have seats at the table. The Creating Space Scholarship is an invitation to join us. Membership gives organizations power and say in the initiatives USBC advances for the First Food field. Together, we have the collective strength to drive transformative policy, system, and environmental changes to make breastfeeding/human milk feeding easy and obvious for most families. 

​To apply for the Creating Space Scholarship, organizations must submit a membership application and indicate their eligibility therein. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis as funding allows. 

​The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) is the most unified voice in advocating for breastfeeding policy and practice change in the U.S. Our membership includes 100+ organizations working collaboratively to drive efforts that create a landscape of breastfeeding support across the nation.

​The USBC was established in 1998 (incorporated in Florida in 2000) in response to the Innocenti Declaration of 1990. Innocenti calls on every nation to establish a multisectoral breastfeeding committee with representatives from government departments, non-governmental organizations, and health professional associations to coordinate national breastfeeding initiatives. 

Dear Members of the 118th Congress,

As leaders advocating for healthy families and children, 1,000 Days and the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee invite you to join us in creating a landscape of breastfeeding support across the United States.

Breast milk is recognized as the optimal food for babies and plays a critical role in their growth and development.[i] Numerous studies have shown that breastfeeding promotes healthy cognitive and social-emotional development.[ii] It also saves lives by helping to protect babies from infections and conditions such as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).[iii] Breastfeeding even lowers a child's risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life. In addition, women who breastfed reduce their risk of specific chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and breast and ovarian cancers.[iv]

The Senate and House passed and the President signed the Fiscal Year 2023 omnibus spending package into law. The package contains all twelve appropriations bills which include a variety of funding provisions that impact infant feeding. Highlights include: 

• $9.75M for the CDC Hospitals Promoting Breastfeeding program, level funding from the previous fiscal year
• $90M for the WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program, level funding from the previous fiscal year
• $1.25M for an analysis of the macroeconomic, health, and social costs of U.S. breastfeeding rates and national breastfeeding goals

Visit the "Federal Appropriations for Breastfeeding" webpage for a comprehensive look at the final funding levels for federal agencies and programs that impact infant feeding. 

The omnibus spending package also included historic passage of the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

​In addition, the bill language and associated explanatory statements include the following provisions:

• Financial Services and General Government: Continues the provision that permits breastfeeding in a Federal building or on Federal property if the woman and child are authorized to be there.
• Department of Homeland Security Appropriations: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is directed to provide semiannual reports on the total number of pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women in ICE custody, including detailed justification of the circumstances warranting each such detainee's continued detention.
• State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is required to publish a report on the following outcomes achieved during the previous fiscal year, disaggregated by country: (1) the approximate number of treatments provided to children for pneumonia and diarrhea, reported separately, as a result of U.S. Government assistance; and (2) the approximate number of mothers and infants who received postnatal care within two days of childbirth as a result of such assistance.

The Fiscal Year 2023 budget is complete but the Fiscal Year 2024 federal budget process is already underway. Federal funding for breastfeeding remains a top policy priority for the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee. Join us by taking action:

• Organizations are invited to sign on to the Welcome Congress letter urging Congress to prioritize breastfeeding during the 118th Congressional Session, including by supporting federal funding for breastfeeding
• Individuals can use the USBC easy action tool to urge the President and Vice President to invest in breastfeeding
• Donate to support USBC advocacy efforts