SACRAMENTO, Calif. — If someone told you your kid was almost three times less likely to make it to adulthood than one of his peers, you’d scramble to do something about that, right? That’s the alarming statistical truth for a lot of black California residents.
The California Department of Public Health says that in 2015, the infant mortality rate for African-American women (9.3 per 1,000 live births) was nearly three times higher than that of white mothers (3.5 per 1,000 live births) and more than double the rate of Latinx mothers (4.5 per 1,000 live births).
That’s why Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing in his budget the addition of four positions at the CDPH and the allocation of $7.5 million to expand the state’s Black Infant Health Program, which aims to improve the health of African-American babies and their mothers.
But that’s not the only hopeful news amid a history of grim statistics for the state’s African-American community.
On Tuesday, Sacramento County’s Child Death Review Team presented their latest numbers — from 2016 — to the Board of Supervisors, and the rate of African American youth deaths is on the decline in 3 of the 4 leading causes of death for that group.
Sacramento County’s Black Child Legacy Campaign oversees a broad and powerfully effective network of community-based organizations, working to decrease those death rates. People involved with the Black Child Legacy Campaign came out in full force to Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, to celebrate the promising news and encourage supervisors to continue supporting their efforts.
From 2014 to 2016, African American youth death rates decreased in the following areas:
- Infant sleep related deaths: from 2.8 per 1,000 births to 1.5
- Child abuse and neglect homicides: from 7.1 per 100,000 children to 4.5
- Third-party homicides: from 4.5 per 100,000 children to 1.8
The other leading cause of black youth deaths did not see a decrease: Deaths related to perinatal conditions.
In 2013, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors established the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths (RAACD), an initiative through The Center at Sierra Health Foundation. The Steering Committee then established the Black Child Legacy Campaign, a community-driven movement aiming to reduce the deaths of African-American children by 10 to 20 percent by the year 2020.
On Tuesday, all of those stakeholders were able to celebrate that the Black Child Legacy Campaign had hit its initial targets.
“We are excited,” said Chet P. Hewitt, president and CEO of Sierra Health Foundation and The Center and co-chair of the RAACD Steering Committee. “We know that there are still a large number of preventable deaths of African American children and more work to be done, but today we can celebrate profound progress.”
The Black Child Legacy Campaign has a Community Incubator Lead, or hub, in each of seven Sacramento County neighborhoods identified as highest-risk for African-American youth deaths. Those are: Arden Arcade, Del Paso Heights and North Sacramento, Foothill Farms and North Highlands, Fruitridge and Stockton, Meadoview, Oak Park and Valley High.
That means, if someone getting services through one Community Incubator Lead moves to another part of the county, she will be able to still access the services through another neighborhood’s hub.
“It is critical,” County Supervisor Phil Serna said, “that we not be lulled into complacency, and that we invest even more to ensure ethnicity and zip codes do not predetermine life span. No other charge is as important.”
The Black Child Legacy Campaign pools the services of more than 70 community-based organizations throughout Sacramento County.
"It really does take the community to save the community, and our data here represents that today," said Kindra Montgomery-Block, leader of the Black Child Legacy Campaign. "There are strategies that (our community-based organizations) are implementing on the ground, in neighborhoods to save lives."
Toni Johnson works for one of those organizations - Her Health First - as a pregnancy coach. It was in that role, in Nov. 2018, that she met Tiffany Garner.
Garner was a homeless mother of three children, with another one on the way. Johnson found her when she spotted a baby carriage outside a liquor store, where Garner was shopping.
"When I met Tiffany, she explained to me that she was homeless, with her three children, and she is pregnant, and after that I just put on my running shoes and...found all the resources," Johnson explained.
Garner said she advises all pregnant moms and young people in need to connect with the Black Child Legacy.
"It's here. It's free, and they help. They help. Period," she said.
It's help - and positive results - based on trust.
"I had to build that relationship with her because she didn't know me from a can of paint," Johnson said, of Garner. "I needed for Tiffany to trust me and trust my decisions on this road that we're about to go. And she did. And I'm proud of her."
Garner has words for other women who find themselves in the position she was in this past fall: "You're not alone. You're not doing it by yourself."
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Attorneys for the Stephon Clark family announced Monday, they filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the City of Sacramento, as well as officers Terrence Mercadel and Jared Robinet. They are seeking $20 million in damages.