As research has shown, we must look at our infant mortality crisis from more than just a medical perspective. We must bring the different health, social and economic pieces of the puzzle together in order to create lasting improvements in the health of our region’s moms and babies.
That’s why FLOURISH St. Louis was formed. Our goal is to create substantial and long-lasting change throughout our entire region by changing the conditions in our community.
We call this a Collective Impact approach to solving complex challenges. And, it means we’re coming together as a community in new ways because an issue this complex can’t be solved by a single organization.
This is different than what St. Louis has tried in the past. But, our families deserve better. We need bigger change and to make it happen, we must all rally together.
Here are some of the highlights of our work so far:
CREATED A FOUNDATION OF COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP
- We’ve brought together a Cabinet of representatives from different sectors of our community to develop new paths and ways of thinking for solving our region’s high infant mortality rate. Our Cabinet members represent more than 25 impacted parents and leaders from the education, faith, business and health care communities. Find out more about our Cabinet members.
EDUCATED THE COMMUNITY ABOUT THE ISSUE OF INFANT MORTALITY
Our work to educate the community about St. Louis’ infant mortality crisis has resulted in:
- Meetings with leaders of regional planning, business, faith and philanthropic organizations.
- 157 people registering to receive updates on the initiative.
- 7,600 visits to our website.
- 279 Letters of Love. This program is designed to provide words of encouragement and support to moms facing significant barriers in having a healthy pregnancy and baby development.
- 150-percent increase in the amount of infant mortality and premature birth-related media coverage in St. Louis compared to the previous year.
- 518 followers on FLOURISH St. Louis’ social media channels.
LISTENED TO THE COMMUNITY
- We created a system of partnerships, listening session events and online feedback options to encourage and empower the community to voice its needs and share ideas for solutions. This work began with a series of community listening sessions in the fall held with more than 125 family and community members, but our efforts to obtain community feedback will continue throughout the lifespan of the initiative.
COMPILED AND REVIEWED DATA
- We created a Think Tank of parents and representatives with access to data resources and expertise in analyzing data to help us has better understand the core issues impacting infant mortality.
- We looked beyond our region to other communities that have better infant mortality rates to learn from them.
- We looked at data and priorities from other initiatives in our region that are addressing social and economic issues that are tied to infant mortality to determine how we can align efforts.
- Our Cabinet is looking at data from across our entire community to determine where efforts are most needed, so we can identify and address the gaps we find.
- We partnered with a research team to update critical infant mortality surveillance data and conduct a risk factor analysis to provide an up-to-date view on the true causes and impacts of infant mortality in our region.
The FLOURISH St. Louis Cabinet is now in the process of reviewing the latest data and identifying the next best steps to help our region be a place where babies thrive and families flourish. Once our Cabinet develops these strategic priorities to guide next steps, we will form workgroups around each focus area and bring the right resources together to make positive change happen.
The greatest gift our community can give each baby is a healthy and safe first year of life – one that sets him or her on a path to flourish each year beyond that. To achieve this, we must rally together.
We thank you for your continued support, and look forward to providing information that will help the entire community come together in support of every family touched by St. Louis’ infant mortality crisis.
Want to get more involved? Find out how you can help.
