June 25, 2013
June 26, 2013- The second Afro-centric Pregnancy Fair will take place from 10-4pm at Lents Park in southeast Portland. The “Birth Works for Black Women” event is designed to be a strong outreach, education and recruitment effort to provide perinatal and breastfeeding information and support, along with lead poisoning prevention information to families, with a focus on Black families in the Portland area. The goals of this event are to prevent infant mortality and premature birth, increase breastfeeding duration, and support fathers. Hosted by the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC), the event celebrates the legacy of the Black midwife and teaches the advantages of having doulas at birth and during the postpartum period. “We want more women of color to know that there are options that can help them have a healthy, full term baby.” says midwife and ICTC founder and president, Shafia Monroe. “Infant mortality is higher among African American families. We provide information to let people know there is a problem and what we can do to reduce that problem.” This year’s event will have many facets. Participants can look forward to birth balls being bounced by children while women get free massages, baby-wearing demonstrations, face painting, breast pump demonstrations, henna tattoo tables, free baby clothes, face-to-face meetings with doulas and community midwives, a father's tent to share birth stories, a stroller-decorating contest, a DJ, and more. Afrocentric Pregnancy Fair: Birth Works for Black Women Saturday, June 29 10am-4pm Lents Park SE 92nd and Holgate Portland, Oregon The International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) is a non-profit infant mortality prevention, breastfeeding promotion and midwife/doula training organization. Our mission is to increase the number of midwives, doulas, and healers to empower families in order to reduce infant and maternal mortality.
