Rep. Somani Announces $2M in Funding to Expand Infant Mortality Prevention Programs Across Ohio

COLUMBUS - State Rep. Anita Somani (D-Dublin) today announced that the Ohio Controlling Board approved $2M in funding for the second year of a three-year expansion of the Queens Village and Cradle Cincinnati model, programs designed to combat infant mortality and support mothers and families across Ohio.

“We have an infant mortality crisis in our state, and we must be doing everything we can to address this issue. The work that Queen’s Village and Cradle Cincinnati has done over the past few years to decrease infant mortality in Hamilton County is commendable. While we have so much more work to do to properly address this crisis, this $2-million expansion of programming across the state is an important next step,” said Rep. Somani.

Ohio continues to have a high infant mortality rate. The Cradle Cincinnati Collective Impact Model is a cross-sector network of partners working collaboratively to improve infant mortality rates and eliminate differences in outcomes for mothers and babies. This model gathers the community together to address infant mortality by transforming systems, supporting families, and elevating women's voices. Cradle Cincinnati will provide individualized training to four communities with the highest rates of infant mortality (Franklin, Lucas, Cuyahoga, and Montgomery counties) on interpreting causes of infant death. Cradle Cincinnati will also lead a collective impact workshop and provide tools to help each grantee build a tailored, community-specific collective impact model. The four grant recipients are the Hospital Council of NW Ohio (Lucas), Celebrate One (Franklin), Nationwide (Montgomery), and First Year CLE (Cuyahoga). 

Queens Village is a nationally recognized model for engaging Black women in maternal and child health efforts that creates an infrastructure for community leaders to serve as an advisory to local maternal and child health efforts. This strategy will provide training, skill-building, and technical assistance in eight Maternal and Infant Vitality Initiative communities with the greatest differences in birth outcomes (Butler, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Montgomery and Summit counties).