“The BVTMB team is thrilled to do a monthly series on local non-profit organizations in our community. Each month our team we will highlight a different non-profit with the hopes to educate and support all of the fabulous things they do. We encourage you to read, comment, and share what non-profit organizations are close to your hearts and families.”
Chittenden County Breastfeeding Coaltion, or CCBC, was established in August 2007 with non profit status achieved in September 2010. The coalition exists to promote awareness, facilitate education, provide access, support and protect breastfeeding wherever and whenever possible.
CCBC was formed by a group of women who were so passionate about breastfeeding as a way of child rearing, that they wanted to share their passion in the community. Fueled by the outrage they felt about the stories in the news regarding Breastfeeding moms being asked to leave public places, they banded together to create a positive local environment for mothers. One of the early main goals of the coalition was to spread the word about the 2003 Vermont state law that allows a breastfeeding mother to breastfeed anywhere in public that she may legally be.
Along with World Breastfeeding Week, the coalition likes to maintain momentum year long with community projects such as exclusive movie screenings, expert panels with local breastfeeding professionals, the Miracle Milk Stroll, and nurse-ins.
The 2015 World Breastfeeding Week theme is “Breastfeeding and Work, Let’s make it work!”. CCBC will be incorporating this theme into one of its main projects this year by volunteering to support the Vermont Department of Health’s “Supporting Nursing Moms at Work” grants.
From the Vermont Department of Health:
“In the spring of 2015, The Vermont Department of Health has awarded 15 organizations “Supporting Nursing Moms at Work” grants. Each grantee received funding to create or update a space for nursing moms and technical assistance to create a lactation support policy for their worksite. The grants help ensure workplace compliance with federal and state lactation accommodation law. The law requires that businesses provide time and a private space for women to express breast milk. This usually takes about 15 minutes every three hours. Breastfeeding employees need approximately an hour per work day to express milk, which can be easily divided between usual breaks. The grants were funded by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and may become available again in the future.”
For the third year in a row, the coalition will be hosting The Big Latch On on both Friday July 31st and Saturday August 1st at Landry Park in Winooski. The Big Latch On consists of groups of breastfeeding women coming together at registered locations around the world to all latch on their child at a set time. All the breastfeeding women and children are latched on for one minute at the set time and are counted by the witnesses. The numbers are added up and we see if we can beat previous Big Latch On records!
The Big Latch On aims to:
- Support for communities to identify and grow opportunities to provide ongoing breastfeeding support and promotion.
- Raise awareness of breastfeeding support and knowledge available in communities.
- Help communities positively support breastfeeding in public places.
- Make breastfeeding a normal part of the day-to-day life at a local community level.
- Increase support for women who breastfeed – women are supported by their partners, family and the breastfeeding knowledge that is embedded in their communities.
- Communities have the resources to advocate for coordinated appropriate and accessible breastfeeding support services.
You can see why CCBC loves to support and host this event each year!
This year CCBC will also be hosting a raffle directly after the Big Latch On. Raffle prizes will include an ECHO membership, passes to the Montshire Museum, a year-long membership to the Baby Wearers International of Greater Burlington, passes to Metrorock, and a gift pack from Birth Before Bonding. There will also be children’s entertainment provided by Wildflowers Studio and goodie bags!
Chittenden County Breastfeeding Coalition is actively looking for members who are interested in playing an active role in upcoming and future events! We are exclusively a volunteer based non profit and in order to grow and continue to support our community we need your help! You do not have to be a nursing mother, just anyone who wants to advocate for breastfeeding in Vermont. We strive to keep our jobs “mom sized” so that many hands can help without full time commitment.
