Celebrate Giving Tuesday 2022 With Chocolate Milk Cafe
This goal will allow us to reach more families by providing funds for Lactation programming that represents families of the African diaspora providing human milk to their children
“Attending Chocolate Milk Cafe (CMC) meetings makes me feel supported and empowered” - Maya, a CMC participant
Maya started attending CMC meetings when her child was 2 months old because she thought “the name was cool and [she] wanted to learn more about breastfeeding”. She faced many challenges including, Mastitis (a painful breast infection), clogged milk ducts, tongue and lip ties, biting, and discouraging opinions from family members. She notes that her CMC community provides “helpful advice … that [is] also open and not sugar coated. After having attended for a while [she] realize[s] it is possible to feed [her child] past a year and explore extended feeding.” Maya was referred to CMC by a Lactation Consultant/CMC Certified Facilitator while in the hospital after birth and her step-mother, who was lactating and attending monthly CMC lactation support meetings.
There are many more stories that are similar to Maya's!
Chocolate Milk Café National, Inc. is a peer-led support organization that develops sacred spaces for families of the African Diaspora who are on their lactation and human milk feeding journeys.
Our mission is to make sure we, as families of the African Diaspora, receive lactation and infant feeding support to reclaim human milk as the first food of Black communities everywhere, starting with the United States.
Our vision is to exist in a world that allows Black people to connect with each other in sacred spaces; where the legacy of nourishing our babies has been restored, cherished, and shared among us and with future generations. This requires that breastfeeding, chestfeeding, bodyfeeding, and the expression of human milk in the Black community will have been normalized.
Our core values inform everything about how we work. We believe that:
- Human milk feeding is normal in the Black community, as in any human community.
- Parents, families, and anyone raising children should be able to feel empowered to feed (or nurse) their children out in the world however they choose to do so.
- Representation matters. This is why we celebrate and center our Black experiences, provide services for and by those of us who are part of the African Diaspora, and honor each other as members of the African Diaspora.
Your donation will help us continue doing our work in the Black community and create new ways to assist even more families!