The Miami-based Health Foundation of South Florida (HFSF) has announced grants totaling $2.7 million to address Black maternal health inequities and bolster community-based violence prevention programs.

Three maternal health collaboratives in the region will receive grants totaling more than $2.4 million aimed at reducing Black maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. A Broward County collaborative that includes Community Care Plan, Broward Health, Urban League of Broward County, and the Broward County Healthy Start Coalition was awarded $850,000 to fund the opening of an OB/GYN clinic to serve the communities of Oakland Park, Lauderhill, and Sunrise—described as maternity-care deserts—and address health-related social needs such as stable housing, nutrition, and transportation challenges. A Miami-Dade County collaborative that includes Jackson Health System, Southern Birth Justice Network, Metro Mommy Agency, Magnolia Birth House, and YWCA South Florida will receive $930,000 to help incorporate community-based doula services into prenatal, birthing, and postpartum care. A third collaborative in the Florida Keys that includes the Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition, the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County, and the Gabriel Project was awarded $630,000 to increase prenatal and perinatal healthcare access and doula services and address the social needs of low-income pregnant people.

In addition, the foundation awarded $290,000 to Circle of Brotherhood, based in the Miami neighborhoods of Liberty City and Overtown, to fund its Peacemakers program, which employs a nontraditional approach to violence prevention and public safety centered on strengthening community relationships and connecting neighborhood residents with employment training, housing, food, healthcare access, and other social drivers of health.

“We are...incredibly proud to support Circle of Brotherhood’s Peacemakers program that addresses the health and safety needs of some of our most vulnerable communities,” said HFSF president Loreen Chant, “[and] are committed to bringing together…health systems and community-based organizations to address the disturbing and totally unacceptable disparities that exist in Black maternal health.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/FG Trade)