Partner Spotlight: Cradle Cincinnati

Cradle Cincinnati is a community-driven organization focused on improving maternal and infant health and eliminating racial disparities in Hamilton County, Ohio. In this Q&A, Cradle Cincinnati shares its mission, recent successes like the Mama Certified hospital initiative, and how advocacy, partnerships, and centering Black women’s voices are essential to giving every baby the healthiest possible start.

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

A. Cradle Cincinnati is a network of partners working across sectors to measurably improve Hamilton County, Ohio’s infant mortality rate and eliminate racial disparities in the health of moms and babies. We aim to do this by transforming the systems that provide care, supporting families, and amplifying Black women’s voices while empowering their ideas and actions.

Central to our work is the belief that no single program or organization can tackle the issue of infant mortality alone. We need partners throughout Hamilton County to come together under a common goal — helping our babies live to their first birthdays — and common objectives. That’s why we embrace a model of collective impact, with Cradle Cincinnati serving as the backbone for our community’s efforts.

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

A. Cradle Cincinnati was founded in 2013 as a collaborative effort between parents, caregivers, healthcare professionals and community members with a commitment to reduce infant mortality. Just two years prior — in 2011 — Hamilton County had the second worst infant mortality rate of counties its size in the entire country. Further, Black babies were dying at an alarming rate: more than three times the rate of babies of other races and ethnicities. The loss of even one baby is too many.

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

A. On March 24, our team — alongside local hospital systems and community partners — will celebrate the third annual Mama Certified hospital badge release. Mama Certified is an equity-focused birthing hospital certification in Greater Cincinnati dedicated to improving care for Black mamas and babies.

Created by Black women through Queens Village in partnership with hospitals, participating hospitals publicly commit to sharing data, making community-informed improvements, and working together to improve care. Hospitals also work directly with Queens Village Hospital Advisory Boards, which bring together Black women and hospital leadership to review hospital data, share patient experiences and co-create meaningful improvement to care.

Now, three years in, seven hospitals have committed to being Mama Certified, and all four participating hospital systems have launched (or are in the process of launching) quality improvement projects built in partnership with local moms.

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

Extreme preterm birth (or when a baby is born before the start of a mother’s third trimester) is the leading cause of infant mortality in Hamilton County. So, we’re keeping an eye on solutions that facilitate access to care for women during their first trimester of pregnancy. This includes both healthcare and social care, like helping women get into prenatal care early or connecting women with a community health worker or doula to get their social needs met. The earlier we can reach moms, the better the outcomes for both mom and baby.

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

From preconception to postpartum, Cradle Cincinnati centers local Black women and family voices. Both Cradle Cincinnati and Queens Village, the community arm of our work, host advisory boards composed of Black moms who play a critical role in the design and implementation of our initiatives and programming. Putting Black women in key positions of power and decision-making shifts the alignment of our efforts to be squarely focused on equity, accountability and transparency. 

For example, in 2018, we reshaped the process by which funds from the Ohio Department of Medicaid for maternal and infant health initiatives were awarded to organizations in Hamilton County. Through the redesigned process, the applications were submitted to and decisions were made by Black women in our community who comprise the Queens Village Advisory Board. Board members reviewed and ranked the proposals and, in turn, determined which organizations ultimately received funding. This process was designed to give voice to Black women to advocate for the services and programs that benefited them most as the primary users — and has continued to be used by Cradle Cincinnati since.

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

A. Our team first got involved with Groundwork Ohio by attending an advocacy day at the Ohio Statehouse. Since then, we've had the opportunity to engage more deeply through webinars, trainings, summits, community conversations and more.

Most recently, we joined Groundwork Ohio's Maternal & Young Child Health Advisory Council. Being a part of this council has afforded us the opportunity to connect with maternal and infant health advocates across the state and allowed us to contribute to collective efforts to drive change to public policy.

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

A. The death of a baby is almost never the fault of that child's parents. When something tragic happens, it's human nature to seek out ways for it to "never happen to me." Unfortunately, that often can feel like blame, even if it's not intended that way. Behaviors — even unhealthy ones — rarely fully explain an infant loss. And families both want the best for their child and are doing their best.

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

A. We are stronger together. This motto is how we approach our work each and every day. Whether that’s bringing together hospitals and local moms to improve care through Mama Certified or working alongside city and county health departments to analyze local data to inform countywide interventions and strategies, partnership and collaboration is at the heart of everything we do.

Our work through the Partners for Change initiative highlights our commitment to partnership. From investment from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY), we are participating in a statewide partnership across four Ohio counties, highlighting the importance of collaboration and community to reduce infant mortality and improve outcomes for Ohio’s moms and babies.

What’s clear is that we all have a role to play in improving outcomes: from nurses to pastors, doulas to neighbors, and everyone in between. Join us and get involved. Visit cradlecincinnati.org to learn more.

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

A. Knowing that behind the data are real families: our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers. Every neighborhood in our county has had a family who experienced terrible loss. This is our community, our families, and our babies — and we deserve better.

Q. Why is advocacy important to your work?

A. Advocacy is essential to working upstream, supporting the structures and policies that impact the health and well-being of families and creating foundations that allow families to thrive.

The social determinants of health play a large role in the disproportionate outcomes that have plagued our communities for decades, including in the areas of housing, transportation, employment and healthcare access. Addressing these determinants and creating sustainable change requires policy and advocacy to go hand in hand.

In addition, when lawmakers hear directly from the families most impacted, policy is more likely to reflect their lived experiences and address their real needs. That’s why centering the voices of Black women in advocacy is essential to achieving equitable outcomes.

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

 A. To make Ohio the best place to be a young child, we need to start by supporting parents. That means healthcare that is responsive to a mom’s needs; support systems that surround women with community, care and trusted relationships; and policies that address the social determinants of health, like housing, mental health and paid leave. By investing in the health and well-being of families, we give every child the strongest possible start.