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Task Force Projects
"Breastfeeding is Smart Business" Program ...is an information campaign which describes how businesses benefit from providing supportive services for working breastfeeding mothers. Our informational brochure describes such benefits as greater employee satisfaction, improved productivity, lower turnover and reduced training costs, decreased absenteeism and increased company loyalty.
...is an awards campaign. Businesses who have established policies which support breastfeeding families by having a workplace pump site can receive the Breastfeeding is Smart Business Award. An award application was developed and is available to anyone in the community to nominate a business which is providing mother-friendly services at their worksite.
Additional materials have been developed to support this campaign. Including: ...is an awareness campaign to inform businesses about the “Nursing Mothers in the Workplace” legislation. Senate Bill 0542 was passed and made law in 2001 to support breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. This legislation requires an employer to provide reasonable unpaid break time each day to an employee who needs to express breast milk for her infant child. The employer must make reasonable efforts to provide a room, other than a toilet stall, where the employee can express her milk in privacy. This affects all employers with more than 5 employees; including an individual, corporation, partnership, labor organization, or unincorporated association, the State, an agency or political subdivision of the State or any other legal, business, or commercial entity. A packet of information has been developed which contains all the information a business needs to implement the legislation.
Smart Business Awards Recipients 2008 Over 20 Illinois organizations and businesses were nominated in May 2008 for the "Breastfeeding Is Smart Business" Award by Regional Breastfeeding Task Forces across the state. Businesses who have established policies which support breastfeeding families by having a workplace pump site can receive this award. Each Regional Task Force will present the awards to those recipients in August 2008 during Illinois Breastfeeding Month. Grandmothers Tea Project The Grandmothers Tea project was designed to help provide knowledgeable support for breastfeeding women. Recognizing that the "grandmother" population has a huge influence on whether our moms successfully breastfeed, the Grandmothers Tea educates grandmothers in a friendly atmosphere, influencing their attitudes about breastfeeding and improving Illinois’ breastfeeding rates. As grandmothers in our community are sought out by new mothers for advice in infant and child-rearing issues, these grandmothers have the most up-to-date information on infant feeding practices. The tea includes activities that focus on 3 major breastfeeding issues:
Designed to be adaptable to the learning needs of any community, the tea can include games, door prizes and refreshments. The curriculum is very adaptable. Each section of the curriculum focuses on a particular subject and can be offered separately or presented in its entirety.
The Grandmothers Tea Tool Kit is on the WIC Sharing Center website: http:/wicwicwicwic/www.nal.usda.gov/wicworks/Sharing_Center/gallery/wic_fam3.htm# History The Grandmothers Tea project is a collaborative project of the Illinois Department of Human Service’s State Breastfeeding Task Force, the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Program and community breastfeeding partners. A 16-member Steering Committee identified a collaborative project incorporating social marketing principles with breastfeeding and obesity prevention. The project was designed to develop new strategies to promote breastfeeding in Illinois. The Loving Support Steering Committee proposed a project to determine if secondary audiences, like grandmothers, could be influential and supportive of breastfeeding. Focus groups were conducted by a trained facilitator with forty-five grandmothers. A questionnaire designed to access the breastfeeding knowledge level of grandmothers and to determine supportive or non-supportive “grandmother” behaviors was developed and used in the focus groups. From these focus groups a curriculum was designed to provide breastfeeding education in an enjoyable setting - a Grandmothers Tea - to affect attitude change. Faith-Based Initiative - Milk of Life The “Milk of Life” campaign is a faith-based initiative designed to promote breastfeeding in faith communities. The “Milk of Life” campaign and brochure was adapted with permission from the Chicago Department of Public Health's "Milk of Life" program. It was developed in association with the Illinois State Breastfeeding Task Force to assist in educating and empowering congregations within communities on ‘how breastfeeding nurtures healthy families’.
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