The Ohio Collaborative to Prevent Infant Mortality (OCPIM) Community Partnership Fire Starter Birth Equity Funding Initiative funded local community organizations and groups throughout OCPIM’s five regions, with an annual budget not exceeding $25,000. These mini-grants focus on supporting activities to help infants in your community survive and thrive beyond their first birthday. The targeted OCPIM regional-funded activities began Monday, May 1, 2023, and will run through Friday, May 31, 2023. 

The funding objective is for small community organizations or individuals to establish teams that received a $1,500 grant to generate and execute one idea that supports OCPIM’s mission to eliminate preventable infant mortality and improve the health of all women of childbearing years throughout Ohio. As a statewide partnership, OCPIM continues to function as a platform for authentic community engagement, exchange of best practices, data management, and advocacy. Its success is defined by improving pregnancy (maternal) and infant health through connecting with communities and driving infant mortality reduction, including extreme preterm birth, sleep-related infant death, and congenital malformations.

The events and initiatives are led by community organizations or groups working in collaboration with professional organizations. Community members will be full partners in the work and be part of the critical decision-making. This opportunity is also part of OCPIM’s commitment to supporting initiatives that further progress toward achieving health equity, one of the overarching priorities that guide OCPIM’s work.

For more information, email Karla Coleman, Communications Director, at kcoleman@gisscenter.org.