Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso on August 6, 2024 announced the creation of a $50,000 ‘Community Baby Shower Fund’ to support community-led baby showers for Brooklyn’s new and expecting parents. Brooklyn nonprofits hosting community baby showers in Brooklyn can request up to $5,000 in reimbursed funding from the Community Baby Shower Fund for non-personnel expenses. Black women in New York City are eight times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than their White counterparts. This initiative is the latest installment in the Borough President’s historic maternal health agenda aimed at addressing this staggering disparity.
“No Brooklynite should have to experience the joys and anxieties of pregnancy and parenthood alone, and community baby showers offer a powerful venue for neighbors to come together in celebration and in support of one another,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
In April 2024, Borough President Reynoso hosted a ‘Brooklyn Community Baby Shower’ for 100 new and expecting mothers. The day-long celebration took place at NYCHA’s Van Dyke Community Center in Brownsville and was chock-full of games, arts & crafts, giveaways, and information about pregnancy and postpartum care. Since the beginning of his administration, Borough President Reynoso has advanced a historic maternal health agenda, giving the entirety of his first-year capital funding to Brooklyn’s three public hospitals for maternal health improvements and launching a variety of initiatives, including his Maternal Health Taskforce, ‘Born in Brooklyn’ baby boxes, and a multilingual, multimedia public health education campaign.
