Community partners come together to address infant mortality.
You may have heard that First Year Cleveland has officially launched! If you're not familiar, this initiative seeks to collectively address infant mortality in Cuyahoga County.
Spearheaded by Council President Kevin Kelley and Mayor Frank Jackson, community partners such as County Executive Armond Budish, local foundations, and our major local hospital systems, representatives signed a community covenant December 30, 2015, signifying their commitment to addressing this issue and their agreement to serve as members of the advisory council.
The council will set the strategic direction and membership of the group. It will also be part of the search for an executive director.
Given the importance of working together to decrease infant mortality in our city, three of our subcommittees (Health Literacy, Healthy Neighborhoods, and Violence Prevention) have been meeting together to define Healthy Cleveland’s role in supporting efforts of First Year Cleveland and other programs and initiatives around infant mortality in our community, such as MomsFirst and Governor Kasich’s infant mortality task force.
Healthy Cleveland plans to focus a strategy around addressing the social determinants that impact expecting mothers and women of childbearing age in the communities where they live.
Stay tuned for more updates as we progress...