The Amazing Race

Reaching our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE) holds an annual Summit to engage and educate breastfeeding leaders who are on the front lines of supporting families in their communities.  Breastfeeding rates amongst Black and Latinx families are lower than their white counterparts.  https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/reportcard.htm and https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/resources/breastfeeding-trends.htm

This year’s theme was achieving health equity through breastfeeding

NAPPLSC sponsored a “retreat” prior to the ROSE summit.  A retreat sounds nice, right?  Discussing real issues facing our communities, being inspired, maybe some self-care involved for lactation support providers.  The event was called the Amazing R.A.C.E.: Rejuvenating A Community of Excellence.   I should have realized that it would not be what I envisioned, when the organizers told us to wear comfortable shoes!

Teams were randomly chosen and we were told to get to know each other quickly because we would need all the skill sets of our members, to succeed.  The goal was to come up with an innovative program to support breastfeeding families.  To brainstorm, create a vision, operationalize and implement with measurable outcomes. Final presentation was the next day. 

Five people in our group with many years of serving breastfeeding families, this project should have been a piece of cake.  HOWEVER, the organizers found creative ways to get us out into the city.  They would tempt us with additional funding if we won a contest.   They would provide a clue via Facebook LIVE.  Our team would need to figure out where the next grant opportunity announcement would be presented, and RUN to that location.  To win the funding for the mini-grant, we had to create and upload social media videos, MEMEs or participate in a spoken word competition.   Clues were given at all times of the day and night. Therefore, we had to break up into smaller groups to sleep or work on creating those products to win contests.

This experience was a real-life example of how challenging writing grants to fund breastfeeding projects can be.  We don’t live in a bubble and exclusively write grants.  We have work responsibilities, family

obligations and LIFE.  While this event was completely different than what I expected, I had a good time getting to know others from around the country.  To listen to each other, add our skill sets and background to create a fantastic final presentation.  I can’t wait to see what NAPPLSC will create next year.  I hope to see you ALL there!