The application deadline for the first round of scholarships has passed. Thank you to all those who’ve applied and contributed to the GoFundMe campaign.  

Reports by The American Academy of Lactation Policy & Practice, ROSE, and HealthConnect One highlight the need to increase access to lactation support in communities of color. Acknowledging and responding to this gap, the Center for Breastfeeding has been partnering with Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE), HealthConnect ONE, and the National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC) to provide scholarships for members in communities of color.

Our recent initiative, called Accessing the Milky Way, aims to do even more. This initiative will send Black, Indigenous, People of Color to the online LCTC by offering full and partial scholarships.

The first phase of this initiative will provide full tuition for the online LCTC for 25 BIPOC. This Accessing the Milky Way scholarship will pay the entire tuition for the course.

In addition, we have started a fund to pay for the required text book and the testing fee for each of the 25 recipients to further eliminate barriers to becoming a Certified Lactation Counselor.

You are invited to nominate a person that you know who wants and deserves the opportunity to take the LCTC in order to better serve and support the mothers in their community. We will be accepting nominations now through July 10, 2020. If you would like to nominate an individual, please send an email to info@centerforbreastfeeding.org and include the nominee’s name, phone number, email address, city and state, and a short description of the work they are doing and the benefit to their community by them becoming a Certified Lactation Counselor. Self-nominations are welcome.

Healthy Children Project faculty is also working to raise a total of $4900 which would cover the cost of textbooks and exams for all 25 recipients of the scholarship. Those interested in growing this fund may visit the GoFundMe page here.