Maternal mortality and unstable housing, reactions from the field, we are in No Images? Click here What's NewWhy should homeless service providers care about maternal health and mortality? Unstable housing is a contributing factor to pregnancy-related deaths, according to the Washington State Maternal Mortality Review Panel. Having determined that 60% of pregnancy-related deaths in 2014-16 were preventable, the panel emphasizes addressing social determinants of health and social inequities to prevent pregnancy-related deaths. Recommended strategies include prioritizing funding for housing and addressing the housing crisis to ensure women and children have access to safe, affordable, and stable housing during and after pregnancy. The panel also urges applying a racial equity lens to policies, programs, and resource decisions, and expanding the Health Care Authority’s Maternity Support Services (MSS), a Medicaid program that helps pregnant women in low-income households to receive the health and social services they need. Our policy & research associate, Megan Veith, breaks down data and recommendations from the panel's recent report, and discusses Building Changes' current and future work supporting MSS to better serve people experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness. Learn more. Reactions from the field Here’s what people are saying about a recent study funded by Building Changes that confirmed the existence of racial inequities within a process that determines who among people experiencing homelessness receive priority status for housing referrals. “There’s always a way to systematically marginalize us.” “I think, for us, what we hope to spur from this is continuums of care across the country take this as an opportunity to see how our practices disproportionately impact POC in ways that we don’t see.” "When we use tools, we often think that they're objective. And when you see a study like this come out and actually show that there are differences in terms of how folks are scoring based on race, that demonstrates that that's just not right." “This research matches with Solid Ground’s experience and what our front-line staff have been saying. I look forward to seeing what changes will be made to address the issue!” “The Minnesota Tribal Collaborative has been saying this for the past 4-5 years - yet it remains the CE tool across MN.” “Our tools to end homelessness were built on white dominant culture and structures that perpetuate racism; so this is no surprise. People of color with lived expertise have been telling us this. The fact we even need data to prove it perpetuates this culture. But here we go.” We Are In “We urgently need real solutions to homelessness, informed by those who have lived it. Community must include all of us, and everyone has a role to play in making sure that our region is a place where we can all thrive.” This week, advocates with local service providers, businesses, philanthropic organizations, academia and people who have personal experience with homelessness, partnered together to declare, ‘We Are In.’ We Are In is a campaign to raise awareness and generate momentum for smart, common sense solutions to ending homelessness in King County. Building Changes joins this group of dedicated community leaders in hopes of bringing needed awareness about youth and family homelessness in our region. Worth a Glance
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