Fresno's Black Wellness and Prosperity Center gets thousands in grant money

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The James Irvine Foundation received hundreds of applications for this year's Leadership Awards.

Out of the pool, six were selected, including 1 that nominated Shantay R. Davies-Balch.

She's the President and CEO of the BLACK Wellness & Prosperity Center successful Downtown Fresno.

The Irvine Foundation Award recognizes leaders who are driving innovative alteration successful the state.

In summation to the honor, BLACK Wellness & Prosperity Center received $350,000 successful assistance money.

Their extremity is to assistance amended the wellness of achromatic mothers and their babies, arsenic good arsenic code wellness barriers for different marginalized groups.

"One of our halfway roles is to instrumentality those experiences, concerns and marque definite that accusation gets to the close determination makers astatine the hospitals and the close determination makers," Davies-Balch said.

Data from the CDC shows successful 2021, the maternal mortality complaint for Black women was 70 deaths per 100,000 unrecorded births.

Davies-Balch explains the funds volition beryllium utilized to enactment its programs, services and unit truthful they tin proceed to strive to present fantabulous attraction to their clients.

"Working successful maternal kid health, erstwhile you're addressing disparities, racism, societal justness and biology justice, nevertheless you privation to framework it, that's truly emotional," she said.

Davies-Balch adds the assistance volition let them to link and spouse with the assemblage connected a higher level.

The wealth volition besides enactment BLACK Wellness & Prosperity Center's Doula Training Program.

"Here successful Fresno and the Central Valley, we decidedly person a immense shortage of trained doulas," Davies-Balch said.

Davies-Balch says truthful far, they person 12 trained doulas but are hoping to scope 30 by the extremity of adjacent year.

They besides anticipation to grow different BIPOC groups.

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