IU Health Foundation

Amount Appropriated?

$600,000

FFID tracks stages 1–2 — stages 3–5 vary by agency, assistance type, and earmark structure.

Project Description

Cradle Indy is a place-based collaboration among community members, healthcare workers and 42 CBOs to eliminate infant mortality in Marion County. Working off an evidence-based model that reduced infant mortality 20% in Cincinnati in 10 years, Cradle Indy will address preconception health, pregnancy and infant health, and issues like smoking while pregnant, sleep-related deaths and preterm births. Cradle Indy will serve Black mothers and babies in Marion County because it has the largest racial inequities in infant mortality. Marion\u2019s 2019 overall infant mortality rate was 7.8 deaths/1,000 births. For Black babies, it was 10.1 deaths/1,000 births. Black infants are 2.1x more likely to have low birth weight and 2.3x more likely to die. Zip codes with highest rates and inequities will be targeted. Cradle Indy will be sustained by partner fees and savings that are reinvested into the initiative. A study by Cradle Cincinnati found that if preterm births in Hamilton Co. were delayed one week, hospital costs could\u2019ve reduced by $25 million, a 27% decrease, a significant return on investment. Philanthropic efforts will also being ongoing and local institutions have already expressed interest in supporting the initiative. Infant mortality rates are a leading indicator of a society\u2019s overall health and well-being and Cradle Indy will have countless primary and secondary benefits related to public health, economic development, and equity that will impact taxpayers in Central Indiana positively.