MIPLAN (Maternal Infant Physical Leisure Activity Nutrition) is a VRHA project funded by the CDC. In collaboration with the Dan River Health Collaborative, the City of Danville, the Boys and Girls Club of the Danville Area, the Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Danville Family YMCA, and the Birth in Color RVA Foundation, MIPLAN will engage in activities to improve health, prevent chronic disease, and reduce health disparities among Black and Hispanic individuals in the region. The activities will include a combination of increasing access to affordable healthy food, increasing access to physical activity, and providing education and support for pregnant women to encourage breastfeeding on the individual and community level.
For more information, contact Bryan Price, Program Manager: bryan@vrha.org
Finding Your Voice: How One Mother’s Testimony Helped Change Virginia Law
Featuring MIPLAN Breastfeeding Coordinator, Roshay Richardson
Physical Activity Landscape Review
Policies and infrastructure that promote physical activities in cities and counties positively influence various aspects of social determinants of health and well-being. The physical activity component of the MI PLAN grant focuses specifically on Danville, highlighting opportunities for policies, plans, and infrastructure that encourage physical activity, as well as promoting existing structures. The physical activity steering committee analyzes opportunities to foster more placemaking and tactical urbanism activities and assess and update the Complete Streets policy, which can help strengthen the cultural identity of various communities and enhance neighborhood connections. Community members have a chance to engage in civic leadership, shaping their environments to be more active and connected.
Breastfeeding Landscape Review
Prepared by Roshay Richardson, Breastfeeding Coordinator
This landscape review offers a comprehensive snapshot of breastfeeding support in Danville, VA: a small city in southern Virginia navigating the intersecting challenges of rural access, economic hardship, and maternal health challenges. On the outside looking in, it may seem that by the increased initiation rate, breastfeeding has become more of an option than it has been in a long time. However, these rates quickly begin to drop as soon as these families step foot out of the hospital due to systemic barriers that limit consistent support from that moment. If families aren’t being supported to breastfeed until their baby is 2 months old, how will we ever make it the recommended 2 year goal?
Through first hand community engagement, “secret shopping” visits, and reflections as both a breastfeeding mother and birthworker, this report highlights the critical gaps in lactation access, public awareness, and (culturally responsive) care.
Local institutions and organizations such as WIC provide foundational support, yet Danville currently lacks a baby-friendly designated hospital, an adequate number of IBCLCs and widespread public spaces that are not only breastfeeding friendly but encouraging
Despite these challenges, our greatest asset is our community. With strong peer support relationships, grassroots advocacy, intergenerational interest in reclaiming breastfeeding traditions and growing number of birthworkers committed to showing up, I know that we will close these gaps.
This review offers specific recommendations for the CDC to consider in continuing to address the breastfeeding disparities that exist: Including community based training, business outreach, & storytelling.
The goal of this action plan is to address disparities in breastfeeding support and outcomes in Danville. This will be achieved by strengthening culturally responsive care, improving access to resources, and building a sustainable community-based support ecosystem that empowers families and encourages breastfeeding as a vital health practice for both mothers and infants.