In celebration of Black Breastfeeding Week, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene celebrated a major milestone for the Citywide Doula Initiative: more than 4,200 people have received doula care through the program since its launch, many of them in neighborhoods most affected by health and socioeconomic inequities.
“This milestone speaks to the power of one of our City’s most successful programs: the Citywide Doula Initiative, which has already supported thousands of families, including in communities that have been too often left behind by our health care system,” Mayor Mamdani said in a statement. “4,000 people served is only the beginning. We are expanding access through our public hospitals and to City employees because every New Yorker deserves support to bring a child into this world safely and with care.”
Black Breastfeeding Week was launched in 2013 to address long-standing racial disparities in breastfeeding rates and highlight the unique cultural and systemic barriers faced by Black mothers. The administration has recognized six hospitals, including four from NYC Health + Hospitals: Elmhurst, Jacobi, Lincoln, and Metropolitan. These hospitals are the first to complete the Citywide Doula Initiative’s Doula-Friendly Hospital Program, which encourages policies and practices that support the use of doulas in maternity care settings.
“I became interested in becoming a doula when I was pregnant with my first child in 2017 and discovered what a doula does,” said Tonya Hardy, Full Spectrum Doula. “I was amazed by the physical, emotional, and mental support doulas provide to mothers during such a vulnerable and transformative time. As an early childhood teacher, I also understand how important those early foundations are for both babies and…
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