Gennisi Charitable Birth Services, Inc.

Gennisi Charitable Birth Services proposes expanding the Whole Mom/Whole Baby program, which provides prenatal, birth, postpartum, and lactation support services to underserved women in our community, the majority of whom are African American. Nationally, African American women are nearly three times as likely to die from a maternal cause as white women: The National Center for Health Statistics reports that in 2020, the maternal mortality rate for African American women was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births. The 2020 rate for white women was 19.1 deaths per 100,000 live births. In addition to the alarmingly high rate of maternal deaths and birth disparities in the African American community during pregnancy and childbirth, postpartum mental health is now acknowledged as one of the leading reasons for maternal death within the first year postpartum. The 2022 Maternal Mortality Annual Report states, “Mental Health conditions contributed to just over 1 in 4 (27%) of pregnancy-related deaths, and seven of the 31 cases were confirmed suicide deaths with four probable suicide deaths.” The report further explains the greatest likelihood of death occurs between 43 and 365 days postpartum. To provide the best care to women in our community, Gennisi aims to expand the Whole Mom/Whole Baby program to include a postpartum mental health component, expand childbirth education classes to include additional topics and restructure the service model to a more individualized approach.