The accessibility of maternity services for immigrant families remains an active challenge for local public health departments across the United States (US). For instance, Somerville, Massachusetts is a sanctuary city with the largest Brazilian Portuguese community in the US diaspora, many of whom identify as low-income. However, little-to-no research has identified the perinatal health needs of immigrant families in Somerville.

Methods

To address these gaps, we launched Project INSPIRE: Improving New Somerville Parent & Infant Resiliency & Engagement. This community-academic collaboration is between: (1) the Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice, (2) MARCH: Maternal Advocacy and Research for Community Health at Tufts University, and (3) SomerBaby, a family support program through Somerville Public Schools. We developed a novel mixed methods parental health needs assessment survey and convened a Parent Advisory Group composed of immigrant parents (Portuguese, Spanish, and/or English-speaking). Surveys were conducted in-person through home visits by SomerBaby doulas and community health workers.

Results

Preliminary findings demonstrate local immigrant parents are most concerned about job opportunities, discrimination based on citizenship status, and access to perinatal health services. Additionally, Project INSPIRE is culminating in a 2024 Somerville Family Day, in which all Somerville families are invited to learn about these results, local resources, and receive Nurture Kits with essential parental resources.

Conclusion

We developed a set of recommendations and best practices to share with other local public health organizers. Project INSPIRE provides a sustainable and scalable model in which academic and community-based leaders can collaborate on maternity innovations.