Social Sector Hero Spotlight: B’More Healthy Babies

Social Sector Hero Spotlights tell stories of exemplary social and public sector organizations that are making measurable differences in their communities. The following spotlight is an excerpt from “Social Sector Hero – How Government and Philanthropy Can Fund for Impact” by Adam Luecking. You can download the book for free here and read all 16 Social Sector Hero Spotlights. 

September 30, 2022

On the east coast in Baltimore, Maryland there have been intentional efforts (and successes) to make measurable progress for children of color. In 2009, with deep racial divisions and a 61 percent African-American population, African-American babies in Baltimore City were five times more likely than white infants to die before their first birthdays. B’More for Healthy Babies (BHB) was created that year as an innovative initiative to reduce the infant mortality rate in Baltimore City through programs emphasizing policy change, service improvements, community mobilization, and behavior change.

The Baltimore City Health Department leads the initiative, with Family League of Baltimore and HealthCare Access Maryland serving as implementation partners. More than 100 corporate, nonprofit, academic, donor and government sector organizations participate as partner agencies. The initiative’s strong community outreach and mobilization program operates in Upton/Druid Heights, Patterson Park, and other predominantly African-American neighborhoods. The BHB initiative works to decrease infant death in these communities by reducing the three leading causes: premature birth, low birthweight, and unsafe sleep. Their goal is to “Improve an often-fragmented health care system to reach all of Baltimore’s families with quality maternal and infant health services and support.” 

Alignment with Maryland’s “Babies Born Healthy” Result and corresponding Indicators like “Infant mortality rate” and “Black/white infant deaths” helped advance racial equity work and design efforts around making sure every child was born healthy in Baltimore. It also directly led to additional funding.

 Among other efforts, BHB put alignment into action in the following ways:

• They worked to have all the city’s birthing hospitals offer standard postpartum safe sleep education before discharge. 
• They developed a centralized triage system to connect women to home-visiting programs and prenatal care.
• They worked with hospitals and health centers to offer a full range of contraceptive methods to all patients. 

Since 2009, BHB has helped achieve the following results: 

• 35 percent reduction in the city’s infant mortality rate 
• 64 percent reduction in the disparity between black/white infant deaths 
• 49 percent decrease in Baltimore City’s teen birth rate 
• 75 percent decrease in the black/white disparity in the teen birth rate 
• 71 percent decrease in sleep-related infant deaths  

These measurable results attracted additional funders. Namely, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, based in Baltimore, MD, made major investments in both the City of Baltimore and State of Maryland’s efforts. Local governments in Maryland’s 24 local jurisdictions made additional investments.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation found the following to be critical lessons learned in sustaining a multisector collaboration in Baltimore:  

• No one entity — government agency, hospital, philanthropic organization, nonprofit, etc. — can do this work in isolation. Population-level change requires a partnership among residents and the private and public sectors. Developing these relationships takes time and may need organizations to realign their individual goals and priorities to support the initiative’s overarching mission. 
• Explicitly named and agreed-upon partnership principles can support authentic engagement and buy-in and shared decision-making among partners.  
• Family engagement efforts, including home visits, educational classes, and support groups, must be led by trusted community-based organizations and partners. 
• Adopting an explicit focus on racial equity is critical. Addressing racial disparities in health or any other sector requires a deep understanding of underlying systemic and historical factors. 

Enjoyed this case study? Want to learn more about the strategies B’More Healthy Babies and other organizations are using to achieve measurable, equitable results? Download a free copy of Social Sector Hero today.