October 23, 2019
The
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INSIDE L O C A L N E W S
Week in Review
M ETRO
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A healthcare worker and a breastfeeding mom are pictured in this public domain photo from
Wikipedia Commons. Portland’s Black Parent Initiative has partnered with Multnomah County to
provide culturally impactful support for breastfeeding mothers in the Portland area.
For Healthy Moms and Babies
Advocates help
women choose
breastfeeding
b everly C orbell
T he P orTland o bserver
African-American
women
tend to breastfeed their babies
less than other groups, but a lo-
cal nonprofit and Multnomah
County are working to see those
numbers increase to help im-
prove health outcomes.
Linda Bryant-Daaka of the
Black Parent Initiative said her
nonprofit has partnered with the
county’s Racial and Ethnic Ap-
proaches to Community Health
(REACH) program to provide
by
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
O PINION
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support for black breastfeeding
mothers in the Portland area.
They have collaborated on a new
community effort, called the Sa-
cred Roots Lactation Pilot Pro-
gram, which began this month
and hopes to increase the rate of
breastfeeding among women of
color.
New mothers are usually giv-
en advice on breastfeeding at the
hospital, but some don’t follow
up because of cultural differ-
ences, Bryant-Daaka said. There
are few black lactation experts
in Portland except for her, she
said, but she hopes to hire a re-
cent graduate of Portland State
University’s lactation degree
program to assist her who is also
black.
“Hospitals have lactation on
staff, but none are black, so some
(new mothers) don’t go back for
their next assessment, so they
are not consistently using these
services,” she said.
To bridge that gap, the Sa-
cred Roots program is offering
free home lactation visits for
new moms, Bryant-Daaka said,
a service that is usually expen-
sive. Black Parent Initiative also
offers doula services, she said,
which is where most of her cur-
rent clients come from, but she
is hoping to get more referrals
from hospitals in the future.
When she goes into a home,
Bryant-Daaka can observe the
C onTinued on P age 4
New Youth Violence Prevention Leader
Mayor Ted Wheeler has ap-
pointed Nike Greene as the new
director of the Office of Youth
Violence Prevention. Greene is
currently the director of Educa-
tion and Community Engagement
for the Portland’5 Center for the
Performing Arts, is a licensed
marriage and family therapist,
and co-pastors with her husband
Herman Greene at the Abundant
Life PDX Church.
Greene, who has four children
and coaches girls’ basketball at
Roosevelt High, will bring “heal- Nike Green
ing, inspiration and a message of
hope to al she serves through her
tireless community engagement,”
Wheeler said. “We’re confident
she will continue the positive and
powerful work being done by the
OYVP to support communities to
live free from violence and to of-
fer trauma informed care to those
who need it most.”
Greene will start her new job
on Nov. 12. She replaces Antoi-
nette Edwards who retired in July
after 10 years as director of the
office.