History of Breastfeed Durham

History of Breastfeed Durham

Breastfeed Durham is the pilot implementation of the Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities (BFFC) model. Durham set out in 2018 to complete the Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community within ten years, with the goal of a lasting, invested partnership where breastfeeding is normalized and supported, championed and funded by health department and county leadership, so the work outlives any one person or grant. Durham is now eight years into the ten. This page is the record of how we got here.

The Ten Steps referred to throughout are the community Ten Steps (see Durham’s Ten Steps), developed as a call to action by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action to expand upon the World Health Organization’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.

Before Durham

  • 2014: The Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI) at UNC, led by Dr. Miriam Labbok, pilots Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities in Chapel Hill and Carrboro with town governments and community partners. Durham would become the second community to take up the model.

2018: Twelve people at a dining room table

  • April: Love Anderson and Gina Rose, a Duke Family Connects nurse, meet and decide to bring the Ten Steps to Durham.
  • August 6: Mayor Steve Schewel proclaims the City of Durham a Breastfeeding Friendly Community, the first public commitment under Step 1.
  • November 16: Twelve people gather at Love’s dining room table for the first organizing meeting of Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities of Durham, among them Gina Rose, Kathleen Anderson, Sunshine Scoville and Tina Sherman of MomsRising. The group studies the Ten Steps, learns from Chapel Hill’s experience, and sets a goal of a county proclamation.
  • December 3: The team meets with Duke’s Family Connects program, and Aubrey Delaney of the Durham County Department of Public Health joins the effort. The group meets again December 12 at Saladelia to plan the county proclamation.

2019: Becoming a team

  • January: First community table, with La Leche League of Durham at the MomsRising Martin Luther King Day event.
  • Monthly meetings move between the Levin Jewish Community Center, Southwest Regional Library and Saladelia as the team grows: Kathleen Anderson, Gina Rose, Rachel Lewis, Aubrey Delaney of Durham County, Vivian Slade of the Durham Women’s Council, and Holly Branch, WIC Director at Lincoln Community Health Center.
  • First Breastfeeding Welcome Here window clings are ordered and a Durham section opens on breastfeedingcommunities.org.
  • November: Durham County Department of Public Health invites the group into its maternal and child health community health worker initiative, the beginning of what became the ICO4MCH partnership.

2020: Proclamation, pandemic, and a new name

  • February 12: Commissioner Heidi Carter attends a team meeting; the Carrboro and Chapel Hill proclamations become the template for Durham County’s.
  • March: A cyberattack on Durham County government delays the proclamation; meetings move to Zoom as COVID-19 arrives, and the team builds an emergency COVID-19 resource hub for feeding families.
  • April 13: The Durham Board of County Commissioners, chaired by Wendy Jacobs, proclaims Durham County a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community.
  • May: Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities incorporates; 501(c)(3) status follows in October.
  • June: The organization takes the name Breastfeed Durham, launches breastfeeddurham.org, and sends the first Durham Digest newsletter to 120 subscribers.
  • July: The ICO4MCH partnership with DCoDPH begins, funding Durham’s first breastfeeding community health work. The Durham Chamber of Commerce shares the Business Case for Breastfeeding with its members (Step 9). Pro-Lactancia Hispana forms and Milky Pride and Play, the first LGBTQ+ family group, launches.
  • August 3: The Durham Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office confirm that staff have been briefed on North Carolina’s breastfeeding law and the First Responders toolkit (Step 2).
  • Summer: The Breastfeeding Welcome Here and Community Partner awards launch for Durham businesses and organizations.

2021: Re-proclaimed, and a change of leadership

  • April 12 and 19: The County Commissioners and then Mayor Schewel re-proclaim Durham a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community and City.
  • May 7: Downtown Durham, Inc. shares the Business Case for Breastfeeding with its members.
  • Spring and summer: Events for Black and LGBTQ+ families, a growing web presence, and more than 30 businesses recognized. Newsletter subscribers pass 500.
  • July: Community baby shower co-hosted with MAAME, Equity Before Birth and SisterSong.
  • September: The first Breastfeeding Friendly Childcare awards go to Branches Community School, Linking Connections Learning Center, Southside Child Care, the Goddard School of Durham, The Little School at Duke and Yates Baptist Child Development Center. The Nurturing Durham resource guide launches in English and Spanish.
  • November: DCoDPH signs its internal breastfeeding support policy. Love Anderson steps down as Executive Director and Bernadette Greene takes the helm of Breastfeed Durham. Durham County releases its Early Childhood Action Plan.

2022: Acts of advocacy and the first festival

  • January: Durham’s breastfeeding initiation rate is reported at 89.7 percent, against 81.6 percent statewide.
  • Spring: The Breastfeeding Friendly Community Partner award launches, and Friday Acts of Advocacy begin: staff walk into local businesses to talk about lactation spaces and the Welcome Here cling.
  • May 14: The first Family Festival and Health Fair draws more than 300 people. Newsletter subscribers pass 1,000 in June.
  • Summer: Strategic planning with DCoDPH begins in earnest, led on the community side by community health workers Bernadette Greene and Love Anderson, and the WIC office joins the work of aligning policy with equity goals.
  • Fall: The Lactancia Latina and Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander coalitions join the Black Breastfeeding Coalition and the LGBTQ+ Human Milk Feeding committee as standing groups. The First Food Equity webinar series begins for providers.
  • December: A first outline of a Durham County Human Milk Feeding Strategic Plan (then framed as 2023 to 2033) is drafted under the ICO4MCH contract. Durham County awards Breastfeed Durham a two-year American Rescue Plan Act nonprofit partner grant, and the county’s FY22-23 breastfeeding support contract is signed.

2023: Building the plan, passing steps

  • January: A Health Equity Impact Assessment convenes 20 stakeholders to shape the strategic plan around Black and marginalized families.
  • Spring: Thirty-eight new lactation areas are set up in Durham businesses, and the team helps Durham families understand the new federal PUMP Act protections at work.
  • June: Duke Regional Hospital earns Baby-Friendly designation (Step 5).
  • August 29: Love Anderson speaks at the 2023 Breastfeeding Summit on social and community barriers to a breastfeeding family friendly community.
  • October: Durham passes Step 4: every family is informed during pregnancy. North Carolina ends sales tax on breast pumps. Newsletter subscribers pass 1,200.
  • November: The draft strategic plan goes out for community review.
  • December 6: New Breastfeeding Welcome Here park signs are unveiled with artist L Jámal Walton and Durham Parks and Recreation.

2024: Signs in the parks, a plan for the public

  • January 23: DCoDPH and Breastfeed Durham hold a full review meeting on the draft strategic plan.
  • February 24: The park sign artwork is celebrated at An Evening of Change, Connection and Celebration.
  • April: Two new support groups for Black families and one for Spanish-speaking families launch.
  • June: The ICO4MCH year report (July 2023 to May 2024) counts 6 trainings for 226 health care providers, 14 workshops for 357 residents, 25 educational events, 43 breast pumps distributed and 21 newsletters. Ready, Set, Daddy gathers fathers at The Glass Jug in RTP.
  • August: The City Council and County Commissioners re-proclaim Durham Breastfeeding Family Friendly. More than 40 bilingual Welcome Here signs are now up in Durham parks, and INDY Week tells the story. The team meets with the Duke Health lactation team on systems change.
  • August to December: The draft Human Milk Feeding Strategic Plan opens for public feedback in English and Spanish and is published at breastfeeddurham.org/2024plan.
  • October: After Hurricane Helene, Durham team members help stand up the SAFE Infant Feeding Team response for families in western North Carolina.

2025: The plan is signed

  • February 3: Breastfeeding-Friendly Education is established at Duke University (Step 10).
  • February 12: Breastfeeding-friendly postcards go on the rack at the Durham Visitor Center.
  • February 28: On the night of the Breastfeed Durham Gala, at the Breastfeeding Symposium, DCoDPH Director Rodney Jenkins signs the Durham County Human Milk Feeding Strategic Plan (2025 to 2035) in front of the room. Nine goals. Step 1 is complete, and breastfeeding support in Durham is now a commitment that county and health department leadership champion and fund alongside the community.
  • Spring: Durham Public Schools issues a proclamation in support of lactating students and staff, and Durham Tech and North Carolina Central University are recognized as breastfeeding friendly campuses. The childcare survey project is completed in February, and all 189 childcare providers serving ages 0 to 3 receive the breastfeeding normalization curriculum.
  • Summer: A Community Choice award is created so a business can be recognized on a family’s word without an application. Two hundred welcome boxes go out to businesses. Step 8.4 outreach reaches every national grocery and pharmacy chain in Durham with bilingual lactation signage.
  • August 25: Breastfeed Durham tables at the tenth Black August in the Park.
  • September: The Lactation Collaborative launches, co-founded by Nicola Young and Jess Woon: free, bilingual lactation care for uninsured and underinsured Durham families, funded through July 2027.
  • Fall: Durham County Library is recognized as breastfeeding family friendly, with a permanent public lactation space at the Main Library and staff spaces at nearly every branch. A new lactation space partnership begins with the Durham Convention Center.
  • November 21: Infant and young child feeding in emergencies is added to the strategic plan as Goal 9. Ninety Breastfeeding Welcome Here clings are delivered to Durham Public Schools.
  • December: Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities is named a NACCHO Blueprint Peer Ambassador grantee, with Durham as the model county.

2026: Living the plan

  • January: A partnership forms with the Durham Chamber of Commerce. The Queer Family Festival joins the Pregnancy Expo and Family Festival as one all-families event.
  • February 26: Love Anderson presents Durham’s plan to NACCHO’s national Community of Practice, with 214 local health departments registered.
  • March: Twenty-two Durham families take part in the Minority Health Month photo shoot, building a library of real Durham breastfeeding images. A Cajun Brunch fundraiser brings supporters together for music, food and community.
  • February to June: A Durham County Cooperative Extension contract funds business outreach, lactation space installation and the Festival.
  • April 9: At a DCoDPH all-staff development day, staff hand-write the responsible office beside every strategy in the plan; Director Jenkins writes his own name on Goal 1. Monthly check-ins with the health department begin.
  • May 3: Rained out on Saturday and moved to its Sunday rain date, the Pregnancy Expo and Family Festival at Hillside Park still brings families, providers and more than 40 partner organizations together, with music from Pierce Freelon and the Durham Charter School Orchestra and a silent auction in place of a gala.
  • May: Durham County reports a 62.3 percent reduction in infant mortality over eight years. 2024 was an exceptional year and the rate will settle differently over time, but it is a moment worth celebrating, and human milk feeding is one strand of the County’s coordinated investment behind it.
  • June 4: At the National Breastfeeding Conference and Convening in Bethesda, Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities hosts Co-Creating the Lactation Landscape, with Durham’s plan and public art as the worked examples.
  • June: All Durham County Library branches, Durham Public Schools and Durham County government buildings are recognized as breastfeeding family friendly public institutions. Lactation Collaborative coordination passes from Nicola Young, who begins her family medicine residency at Duke, to Marissa Griffith. Team members join the Black Maternal Health Day of Action on June 10.
  • July: Durham’s experience with Steps 1 and 2 is written up as a success story for NACCHO’s County Breastfeeding and IYCF-E Implementation Toolkit.
  • August: National Breastfeeding Month brings weekly spotlights on Indigenous Milk Medicine Week, AANHPI Breastfeeding Week and Black Breastfeeding Week, door-to-door business outreach, a private lactation pod at DPAC, peer supporters completing Community Health Worker certification, Ready, Set, Baby training for the fall student cohort, Black August in the Park, and a new partnership with the Durham Fire Department. Love Anderson is honored at the Uplifting Black and Brown Lactation Success Conference. The American Academy of Pediatrics releases a policy statement naming partnership with community health workers as the first answer to breastfeeding inequities, the approach Durham has been built on from the start.
  • September: The fourth annual Workplace Lactation Week. Durham’s recognized businesses, clinics, organizations and childcare programs number 388, on the way to the 700 that will complete Step 7, the last Ten Steps criterion Durham controls.

Highlights of Durham’s journey

  • Grassroots leadership: Community-led from the first dining room meeting, with families, lactation professionals and community health workers at the helm.
  • Government collaboration: Proclamations from the City in 2018 and the County in 2020, renewed in 2021 and 2024, and health department and county leadership that champion and fund the plan alongside the community.
  • COVID-19 response: An emergency resource hub in the spring of 2020, kept on this site as part of the record.
  • Equity lens: A Health Equity Impact Assessment shaped the plan around Black and marginalized families, and standing coalitions for Black, Latina, AANHPI and LGBTQ+ families carry that forward.
  • Global best practices: Informed by strategic plans from Colorado, NACCHO and New Zealand, and now shared back through NACCHO with counties across the country.
  • Durable policy change: The Human Milk Feeding Strategic Plan, signed February 28, 2025, with a named DCoDPH office for every strategy as this year’s goal.

Looking ahead

Durham’s Human Milk Feeding Strategic Plan runs through 2035. The next two years are about businesses: reaching 700 Breastfeeding Welcome Here partners completes the last Ten Steps criterion Durham controls. The next Pregnancy Expo and Family Festival is set for May 1 and 2, 2027.

We honor the leadership and advocacy of every person who helped shape this journey. Thank you for being part of our community.