Maternal and Infant Mortality
EverThrive Illinois believes all birthing people and infants in our state should have positive health outcomes that are not determined or impacted by their race or ethnicity. Additionally, every family, regardless of insurance status, deserves high-quality health care. To make this a reality, we support several current initiatives:
Chicago Collaborative for Maternal Health (CCMH)
Led by EverThrive IL and Alliance Chicago, a research network, CCMH combats the maternal mortality and morbidity crisis in Chicago by building awareness in communities and government, fostering collaboration among health and social service providers and driving quality of care in ambulatory care settings.
Family Connects Chicago and Community Alignment Boards
Family Connects Chicago is an in-home nurse service available to local families with newborns. The service is simple: a registered nurse visits your home around three weeks after birth to check on mom, baby, and the whole family. There is no additional cost to families and anyone with a newborn can participate, including foster and adoptive parents. Nurses provide a comprehensive spectrum of in-home support, guidance, and connections to resources.
Our Birth Equity team manages and convenes 3 Community Alignment Boards (CABs) for Family Connects Chicago (FCC), which are focused on strengthening collaboration among social service and medical providers and advocating for effective policy changes.
Each of our Community Alignment Boards is important to the communities they represent because its members are the people living or working directly in these neighborhoods and can identify and speak on the challenges and needs. The collaboration between CDPH, delegate organizations, and CAB members allows us to respond systematically to these resource gaps.
Healthy Choices, Healthy Futures Toolkit
EverThrive Illinois partnered with the Illinois Department of Public Health and others to create an informational resource for healthcare providers of women during Preconception, Prenatal, Postpartum, and Interconception Care. This online Healthy Choices, Healthy Futures Toolkit features an educational matrix of resources, social marketing materials, post-partum transition strategies, brochures, and other printables. Read more here…
“The Gathering” Digital Resource for Black Birthing People
This digital resource supports and provides community education and resources to Black pregnant or recently pregnant people and family and friends. “The Gathering’s” focus is on reaching Black women of reproductive age by activating social service and medical providers and canvassing neighborhoods to provide community-centered education and share these valuable digital tools with pregnant or recently pregnant people. The campaign also provides other healthcare stakeholders with a glossary of engaging, relatable, and useful language for the families they serve. EverThrive IL is committed to developing resources and supporting programs and initiatives that address these maternal health disparities to support positive health outcomes for communities most impacted by health injustice. Read more here…
Birth Equity Listening Session Summary
EverThrive IL hosted Birth Equity Listening Sessions that brought together medical professionals, social service providers, and community members with lived experiences to discuss maternal and child services throughout Illinois. The six in-person and virtual sessions were hosted in McLean, Champaign, Madison, and Williamson counties and the City of Chicago. Approximately 35 individual community members and 63 community-based organizations participated in the sessions between November 2023 and June 2024. The summary includes barriers to equitable healthcare, and their proposed recommendations to improve healthcare access. Read the summary here…
Questions, comments, or suggestions for the toolkit? Please Contact Us.