CIAA Announces March of Dimes Community Partnership
By: Ben Baxter
Partnership with Mom & Baby Health Leader Will Provide Athletes Scholarship and Career Opportunities While Engaging CIAA Alumni
Charlotte, NC – The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), the nation’s first historically Black athletic conference, today announced a partnership with March of Dimes, to offer scholarship and paid internship opportunities at the nonprofit to students and athletes across the CIAA. The partnership will also engage alumni in conversations and opportunities to promote health equity for moms and babies. The U.S. is in the midst of a maternal and infant health crisis, which is particularly devastating for underserved families of color. Today, the U.S. is among the most dangerous developed nations in the world for childbirth.
The CIAA, the longest-running collegiate athletic conference consisting of twelve historically black colleges and universities, represents a community deeply impacted by the maternal and infant health equity gap, which the March of Dimes is working to close. Present-day structures and systems, rooted in racist, biased, and centuries of unfair policies and practices, contribute to and magnify racial differences in access to resources, social conditions, and opportunities. These policies have systematically disadvantaged the under-resourced and communities of color over centuries, resulting in persistent, inequitable, poor maternal and infant health outcomes.
“The health of our nation’s moms and babies is an issue that concerns Americans of all ages. It is important to our organization to engage younger diverse audiences in our work as they are our future leaders and change-makers,” said Stacey D. Stewart, President, and CEO of March of Dimes. “We are thrilled to offer scholarship and internship programs to rising professionals in the CIAA as we continue in our work addressing health equity in the ongoing fight for healthy moms and strong babies.”
The March of Dimes 2021 Report Card found that while U.S. preterm birth rates declined slightly for the first time in six years, rates actually increased for Black women. Every 12 hours, a woman dies due to pregnancy-related causes, with Black women three to four times more likely to die than White women. Black babies are more than twice as likely as White babies to die before their first birthdays.
“The infant mortality rate is a barometer of the welfare of our communities,” said CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams. “As we celebrate Title IX and parity for women, it is also important to address such issues as access to healthcare, mental health, and education. Our community partnership with March of Dimes offers our students critical opportunities in the healthcare industry, as well as scholarships to further their education.”
