Staying Abreast: Weekly Wire - USBC Executive Director Jennifer Day Reflects on Black History Month, Babies in the Budget 2025 Report, & more

The USBC e-Newsletter, Staying Abreast, is published in a weekly news brief format, called the Weekly Wire (WW). Past issues are archived below.

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Staying Abreast: Weekly Wire - USBC Executive Director Jennifer Day Reflects on Black History Month, Babies in the Budget 2025 Report, & more

1/30/2026

Weekly Wire: January 30, 2026

The Staying Abreast: Weekly Wire e-Newsletter is a compendium of news, actions, and resources considered to be of interest or relevance to the breastfeeding field. The newsletter aims to support the USBC mission "To drive collaborative efforts for policy and practices that create a landscape of breastfeeding support across the United States." Included items are submitted for consideration or identified by the USBC e-news team via extensive online review. Whenever possible, the newsletter utilizes language directly from the primary source of an item without additional analysis or edits. In some cases, the USBC offers additional perspectives through the "USBC Insights," media and partner highlights, and the "News & Views" section. Inclusion of an item in the e-newsletter does not imply endorsement or support by the USBC of an item or organization, unless specifically noted.

In this issue:

USBC Updates
- USBC Executive Director Jennifer Day Reflects on Black History Month
- Call for Submissions: Black History Month & Breastfeeding
- Welcoming New USBC Member Organizations: Golden Hour Lactation LLC & Idaho Breastfeeding Coalition
National News
- Babies in the Budget 2025 Report
- NASEM Breastfeeding in the United States Report Print Edition Now Available
- Report Traces Inequality in the History of Paid Leave Policies
State & Community News
- New York Bill Introduced to Standardize Human Milk Banking Practices
- Virginia Bill Introduced to Prohibit Employment Discrimination on the Grounds of Lactation
- Wisconsin Bill Introduced to Require Lactation Support for Individuals in Correctional Facilities
Action Opportunities
Funding Opportunities
Upcoming Events
News & Views
Journal Publications

denotes a USBC member organization news item denotes a USBC-affiliated constellation news item

USBC Updates

USBC Executive Director Jennifer Day Reflects on Black History Month

Call for Submissions: Black History Month & Breastfeeding

As we honor Black History Month, the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee lifts up Black brilliance, Black leadership, and the generations of community care that have held babies and families through every season of this country’s history. Black communities have long led with truth, ingenuity, and love in maternal, infant, and child health, including the wisdom and advocacy that shape infant feeding today. This month is both remembrance and responsibility: to celebrate what has been built and to keep pushing for the conditions Black families deserve to thrive.

In recognition of the month, USBC has curated a collection of infant feeding news and resources on our website. We invite you to share tools, materials, stories, and community-rooted work for consideration on the webpage and in the Weekly Wire. When we center community priorities, strengths, and lived expertise, we grow our collective learning and strengthen how we show up for families with dignity, safety, and real support.

Welcoming New USBC Member Organizations: Golden Hour Lactation LLC & Idaho Breastfeeding Coalition

The USBC is thrilled to welcome 18 organizations to our member network as of January 2026! Throughout the coming weeks, each edition of the Weekly Wire newsletter will be highlighting two new member organizations, presented in alphabetical order. Access the archive to review past editions. The USBC warmly welcomes all new and returning member organizations to our table! This week, we are highlighting Golden Hour Lactation LLC and the Idaho Breastfeeding Committee.

Golden Hour Lactation LLC is dedicated to providing compassionate education and support for pregnant women during their 3rd and 4th trimesters, as well as lactation assistance. As a woman and veteran-owned business, they understand the unique challenges and joys of this transformative time. Their mission is to empower families to thrive together by offering personalized guidance and resources tailored to their clients’ needs.

The Idaho Breastfeeding Coalition (IBC) is a statewide non-profit organization established to unite advocates for breastfeeding families. The mission of the IBC is to facilitate a community and statewide landscape that promotes, supports and protects breastfeeding as the biological norm for a healthier Idaho. Achieving optimal health and well-being for all Idahoans requires working toward decreasing health disparities, achieving improved health equity through health literacy, and accessing evidence-based support.

National News

Babies in the Budget 2025 Report

First Focus on Children released the "Babies in the Budget 2025" report. Since Fiscal Year 21, the share of federal spending devoted to infants and toddlers has fallen by 20%. In Fiscal Year 2025, the United States devoted just 1.59% of all federal spending to children under the age of three. This report examines nearly 150 federal programs across almost every department, including the Hospitals Promoting Breastfeeding Program, providing a comprehensive picture of how the federal government invests in children in their earliest years.

NASEM Breastfeeding in the United States Report Print Edition Now Available

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released the final edition of its "Breastfeeding in the United States: Strategies to Support Families and Achieve National Goals" Consensus Study Report, available electronically or in print. The USBC Director of Strategic Partnerships, Camille Abbe, and former USBC National Policy Director, Cheryl Lebedevitch, are acknowledged in the report as contributors to the public information-gathering sessions that informed the work of the Committee on Understanding Breastfeeding Promotion, Initiation and Support Across the United States. The report provides a roadmap for helping families meet their breastfeeding goals and improving population-level outcomes. It emphasizes the need for strong federal coordination, comprehensive health care and community-based support, and inclusive public policies. Using a life course perspective, the report identifies key intervention points that begin before birth and continue through the return to work or school.

Report Traces Inequality in the History of Paid Leave Policies

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center is releasing a series of reports, "Social Policy Histories: Tracing Inequity in Policy Design and Its Consequences for Families," examining how social policy developments from early America to today were influenced by the race, gender, and socioeconomic status of intended beneficiaries. By tracing patterns of inequity over time, the series helps explain how policy choices limited access to public supports for Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities—generating disparities whose effects persist today. One of the first installments, "The History of Paid Family Leave Policies," examines the emergence and evolution of paid leave, highlighting how patterns of exclusion have resulted in unequal outcomes for families earning low incomes, particularly families of color, and the inheritance of economic hardship across generations.

State & Community News

New York Bill Introduced to Standardize Human Milk Banking Practices

New York Assembly Member Solages introduced A3034. The bill would require human milk banks, companies, and cooperatives to follow certain safety and ethical standards for collecting, processing, storing, and distributing donor milk, using guidelines such as those of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, unless the Department of Health approves alternatives. It distinguishes nonprofit milk banks from for-profit entities, clarifies that milk collected for a mother’s own child is not subject to screening requirements, and includes provisions to support education and services for certain breastfeeding mothers.

Virginia Bill Introduced to Prohibit Employment Discrimination on the Grounds of Lactation

Virginia House Delegate Mehta introduced HB962. The bill would prohibit employers from discriminating against employees and prospective employees on the basis of lactation, among other grounds. The bill would also establish a cause of action for an aggrieved employee or prospective employee and provide for an award of damages and reasonable attorney fees and costs.

Wisconsin Bill Introduced to Require Lactation Support for Individuals in Correctional Facilities

A group of Wisconsin Senators introduced SB755, with a companion bill introduced by a group of Representatives, AB773. The bills would require correctional facilities to allow incarcerated individuals to access lactation support services if the services are provided at no cost to the facility or if the incarcerated individual pays for the services. The bills would also require postpartum mental health assessment for incarcerated individuals and prohibit the use of physical restraints on pregnant and certain postpartum individuals in correctional custody.