Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2018-2019

n I Feature n the first six months of 2018, the Black Child Legacy Campaign conducted safe-infant-sleep training for more than 450 African-American parents and caregivers in Sacramento County. More than 150 pregnant mothers received perinatal care, and hundreds more received ed- ucation and case management to prevent child abuse and neglect and third-party homicide. The BCLC is a collaborative, countywide effort with a single goal: to reduce the death rate among African-Amer- ican children in Sacramento County by 10-20 percent by 2020. The campaign has been underway for three years with significant progress already in reducing deaths, thanks to an innovative approach; positive outlook; and collaboration among agencies, organizations and local communities. “Never before and nowhere else is there a concerted countywide effort to address a public health crisis of Afri- can-American child death, and not only is that model work- ing, but it’s enabling us to formulate a targeted, vision-driv- en directional where we’re not all operating separately, but it’s a unified march toward the decrease of disproportionate African-American child death,” says Danielle Lawrence, direc- tor of the Mutual Assistance Network and community incu- bator lead for the Black Child Legacy Campaign in Arden Ar- cade. mento County and First 5 Sacramento and focuses on sev- eral specific communities throughout Sacramento County, including Arden Arcade, North Sacramento and Del Paso Heights, Fruitridge and Stockton, North Highlands, Oak Park, and Valley Hi and Meadowview. Natalie Woods Andrews, Ed.D., committee co-chair for RAACD, said she was alarmed to learn of the data and knew it indicated a crisis in the county. “What was appalling to me was that there had been over 20 years of data that told us there was this disparity, which, to me, it is unacceptable to do nothing about,” Woods An- drews says. “When I had the opportunity to be a part of the movement, it was heavy on my heart to do something for the community.” According to an implementation plan from RAACD, there are four primary causes of death that have the most disproportionate impact on African-American children in Sacramento County, including perinatal conditions, infant sleep-related deaths, third-party homicides, and child abuse and neglect homicides. “When I had the opportunity to be a part of the movement, it was heavy on my heart to do something for the community.” A NEW MODEL FOR SERVICES While Sacramento County of- fers a range of services for resi- dents, RAACD believed it would take a new approach to make significant changes in local communities. DISCOVERING DISPARITY “There have been a number About five years ago, the Sac- of, what I believe, are innovative — Natalie Woods Andrews, Ed.D., committee co-chair, ramento County Blue Ribbon ways to address this because Commission report “Dispropor- the data has been present for Reduction of African American Child Deaths tionate African American Child over 20 years, but systemical- Deaths,” conducted at the request of Sacramento County Su- ly, things have not changed,” Woods Andrews says. This led pervisor Phil Serna (District 1), showed that African-Ameri- RAACD to recommend a new approach that would engage can children in the county died at more than twice the rate the community, build a safety net of services and engage of children of other ethnicities. staff and volunteers at the community level to address crises When Serna took office in 2011, he was startled to learn and support residents. that Sacramento County had accumulated 20 years of data The work of the campaign is extensive, with multiple fo- showing the disparate death rate among children in the cus areas. One of the most important components, accord- African-American community. As a first-time elected official, ing to Woods Andrews, is the Coordinated Systems of Sup- Serna was determined to find out what was happening. port. Through coordination with The Center and RAACD, During a presentation of the data at a board of supervi- resources such as social services, child protective services, sors hearing, Serna asked fellow supervisors what had been county probation and education are co-located in a single done to address the issue, and, “It was crickets,” Serna says. hub for families who need them. This allows families to get “I vocalized that it was completely unacceptable, that not everything they need in one stop in their own communities. only was it something that continued to occur, but that we’d At the Mutual Assistance Network community center in known about [it] for so long,” Serna says. Arden Arcade, for example, Lawrence and her team issue portable cribs to parents who may not have a safe place for PUTTING A PLAN INTO PLACE their baby to sleep, operate a child-abuse prevention pro- The report sparked immediate action from the county and gram called Birth and Beyond, and connect pregnant moms led to the launch of the BCLC in 2015, which is administered to resources they need for prenatal care, and provide coun- by The Center at Sierra Health Foundation and overseen by seling and support services. the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Each community also has Community Leadership Child Deaths. The campaign is funded primarily by Sacra- Roundtable volunteers who act as crisis responders in their 100 CAPITAL REGION CARES 2018-19 | comstocksmag.com

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