Breastfeeding Coalitions: Building a Grassroots to Treetops Movement for Change

The United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) is a multi-sectoral, nonprofit coalition of more than 50 national organizations working "to drive collaborative efforts for policy and practices that create a landscape of breastfeeding support across the United States." In the international arena, the formation of the USBC satisfied one of the four operational targets set forth by the 1990 Innocenti Declaration of the WHO/UNICEF policymakers' meeting on "Breastfeeding in the 1990s: A Global Initiative."

The USBC's focus on developing and strengthening breastfeeding coalitions recognizes that it is at the state and local level that initiatives will be implemented and adapted most effectively to address specific populations. The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding (SGCTA) emphasizes the cross-cutting nature of breastfeeding and the critical need for collaboration and outreach beyond the traditional "breastfeeding community." Action 20 identified the USBC and the state coalitions as leaders in the implementation of the 20 actions, calling specifically to "Increase the capacity of the USBC and affiliated state coalitions to support breastfeeding."

As the national coalition and central hub connecting all national, state, and local organizations working to advance breastfeeding, the USBC is looked to as the leader in the coordination of breastfeeding activities in the United States. This presentation will discuss the USBC's model for alignment of shared activities, from individual advocates and community organizations at the local level (grassroots), to advocacy by state-level coalitions for policy/systems change (branches), to spread and implementation of policy/systems change through federal/national initiatives (treetops).