Infant mortality in Ohio: How a local group is trying to reduce high rates

View a previous report on CelebrateOne's efforts to fight infant mortality in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio is one of the bottom 10 states in the country for infant mortality, and a central Ohio program seeking to change that recently received a $1 million funding boost.

CelebrateOne is a Columbus nonprofit dedicated to addressing and reducing infant mortality. The group's enhanced maternal health program distributes funds to organizations across central Ohio working to improve birthing outcomes.

The infant mortality rate in Ohio is the eighth highest in the United States, or the 43rd ranked out of 50 states, according to the CDC. For every 1,000 live births in the state, there are 7.11 infant deaths. In Columbus, the rate is 6.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

"This issue is important because infant health is an indicator of overall health of the community," said Danielle Tong, executive director of CelebrateOne.

But those rates are even higher for Black families.

"Black babies are three times more likely to die than white babies, and Black moms are four times more likely to die than white moms," Tong said. "Those disparities play out in a multitude of ways that are just not addressed in policy."

The nonprofit received a $1.13 million grant toward its program from the Ohio Department of Medicaid, which was approved by Columbus City Council in July. This is the program's latest grant cycle, with three recipients being added to this round of funding.

That money will be spread out among the following community partners:

• CelebrateOne -- Connector Corps ($119,164)
• YMCA of Central Ohio ($100,000)
• Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio ($50,000)
• City of Refuge Good Life Foundation ($60,000)
• Moms2B/The Ohio State University ($100,000)
• Physicians Care Connection ($75,000)
• Project Milk Mission ($57,084)
• Mental Health America of Ohio ($50,752)
• Urban Family Development Center/Dads2B ($55,000)
• PrimaryOne Health ($100,000)
• The Center for Healthy Families ($65,000)
• OhioHealth ($100,000)
• Heart of Ohio Family Health Centers ($60,000)
• mOBI Nurses ($80,000)
• Lower Lights Christian Health Center ($58,000)

New additions to this wave of funding include Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, Lower Lights Christian Health Center and mOBINurses.

Legal Aid helps families through its medical legal partnership. That refers families who are connected to the healthcare system in some way to legal services, providing assistance with things like eviction disputes.

"We are funding them for their medical legal partnership, which we see helps improve eviction rates among families who have a young child at home and helps keep people at home," Tong said.

Since 2017, the YMCA of Central Ohio has been involved with the program. They connect women and families to services and resources that support a healthy pregnancy.

For example, that can include infant CPR classes so that families know what to do if something happens to their child. Baby formula and car seats are among the other things the YMCA helps connect families with.

"We have a very holistic approach to not just ensuring that babies are born healthy, but we want to make sure that they make it to their first birthday and beyond," said Samantha Stewart of the YMCA of Central Ohio.

Stewart said Ohio has enough resources to put up a better fight against infant mortality.

"There's so much more that we can do and that we need to do in order to support healthy birth outcomes," Stewart said. "Not just for the mom, but for the baby."

Legal Aid and the YMCA are just two of the community partners CelebrateOne is funding through its over $1 million grant. While each group brings something different to the table, they're all focused on the same mission: helping expecting mothers and those with children under the age of one.

To Tong, these efforts can show on a broader level how much a community is doing to help.

"We can look to the youngest, the most fragile of our population, to know how are we doing in serving our families?" Tong said. "How are we doing in serving our citizens?"