Partner Spotlight: CelebrateOne

Q. Tell us a little about your organization. Where are you located? Who do you serve and what do you focus on?

CelebrateOne is a local collective impact backbone translating community needs into systems change, policy alignment, and real support for moms, babies, and families.

We’re based in Columbus, Ohio and serve families across Franklin County, alongside the providers and systems that support them.

Our work is rooted in addressing infant mortality and the disparities that drive it. We focus on ensuring every baby reaches their first birthday by strengthening the conditions around families — from access to care and community-based support to how systems connect and function together. Because real change doesn’t come from one program, it comes from alignment across everything that touches a family’s experience.

Q. When was your organization founded, and what inspired your mission?

CelebrateOne was created in 2014 following the recommendations of the Greater Columbus Infant Mortality Task Force, which revealed a painful reality: too many babies in our city were not reaching their first birthday.

Championed by Mayor Andrew Ginther, CelebrateOne was established in 2014 as a collective impact effort, based on recommendations of the Greater Columbus Infant Mortality Task Force. We bring together hospitals, community organizations, public agencies, and neighborhood champions around one shared mission: ensuring every baby has the chance to reach their first birthday.

That urgency remains.

In 2024, 128 babies in Franklin County died before their first birthday. Black babies continue to die at twice the rate of White babies, and prematurity remains a leading cause of these deaths.

These are not isolated issues. Infant mortality is shaped by how systems function across healthcare, housing, income, and community support.

From the beginning, this work has been about more than programs. It’s been about building a system that works together to support families from the very start.

Q. What’s a recent project, program, or win that you're especially proud of?

One recent win we’re especially proud of is securing a $3.39 million investment through the Ohio Department of Medicaid to expand maternal and infant health support across Columbus.

This funding allows us to partner with 15 community-based organizations to strengthen a coordinated system of care, reaching nearly 9,000 families across Franklin County. It’s not just about expanding services—it’s about investing in trusted providers and improving how families access care and support.

This work reflects what’s possible when policy, funding, and community-based solutions are aligned around what families actually need.

Q. What’s one issue you're keeping a close eye on right now?

We’re closely watching policies that impact access to care and support during pregnancy and early childhood, especially Medicaid coverage, access to doulas, and sustained investment in infant vitality and home visiting.

We see every day how critical these supports are for families. When access is limited or inconsistent, families feel it immediately — often at the most vulnerable moments.

Policy decisions don’t stay at the Statehouse. They show up in real time for families—in doctors’ offices, delivery rooms, and those long postpartum nights.

Strengthening and protecting these systems is essential if we want to continue improving outcomes for moms and babies across Ohio.

Q. How do you partner with families and communities in your work?

Families are at the center of everything we do.

We meet families where they already are — in neighborhoods, libraries, community centers, and other trusted spaces and build relationships through our Connector model and community-based events.

We create space for families to shape the work through storytelling, community conversations, and direct engagement. Their experiences guide how we design programs, align partners, and advocate for change.

Families don’t navigate systems, they trust people, and our job is to make sure those systems actually feel like support when families need it most.

Q. How did you first hear about or get involved with Groundwork Ohio?

We’ve followed Groundwork Ohio’s leadership in advancing early childhood policy across the state, particularly their focus on prevention, maternal and infant health, and systems change.

Our work naturally aligns. We see every day how policy decisions show up in real time for families, and Groundwork Ohio plays an important role in bridging what’s happening at the Statehouse with what communities are experiencing on the ground.

Q. What do you wish more people understood about the families you serve or the work you do?

We wish more people understood that infant and maternal health outcomes are not just about individual choices. They’re shaped by how well systems work together.

The families we serve are doing everything they can for their children. But when systems are fragmented, hard to access, or under-resourced, even the most prepared families can face challenges.

This work is not about asking more of families. It’s about building conditions where they are supported from the start and expecting more from the systems meant to support them.

Q. How do you work with other organizations or community partners to create change?

We work across healthcare systems, public health, community-based organizations, and grassroots partners to align efforts and reduce gaps in how families experience care.

As a collective impact backbone, we do more than convene partners. We help drive shared strategy. That includes aligning around common goals, using data and lived experience to guide decisions, and identifying where systems are creating friction for families.

We bring partners together to solve real problems in real time, whether that’s improving referral pathways, addressing gaps in access, or strengthening coordination across services.

Our role is to move work out of silos and into action that families can actually feel.

Q. What keeps your team inspired or grounded in this work?

The families keep this team pushing for change.

Every story, every milestone, every baby reaching their first birthday is a reminder of why this work matters.

Q. Why is advocacy important to your work?

Advocacy is essential because what we see every day in our work is shaped by policy.

We can connect families to resources and build strong programs, but if the systems those families rely on are underfunded, fragmented, and difficult to access, those efforts will always have limits.

Advocacy is how we take what we’re seeing on the ground and push for changes that improve the system as a whole. It’s how we make sure policies reflect the realities families are navigating, not just how systems were designed to work.

Because if we want outcomes to change, the systems behind them have to change too.

Q. What do you think is important to help make Ohio the best place to be a young child?

It starts with investing early and consistently in families. That means ensuring access to care from the very beginning—continuous Medicaid coverage, access to doulas and home visiting, and strong community-based support systems that families can trust.

But just as important, it means building systems that are coordinated, equitable, and centered around families. Right now, too many families are navigating gaps between services that were never designed to work together.

If we want Ohio to be the best place to be a young child, we have to align policy, funding, and systems around what families actually need.

When we get this right from the start, we’re doing more than improving outcomes in the first year, we’re shaping the future of our communities.