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The Foundation for Delaware County is infusing new life into its programming in the face of growing public health challenges.
Dozens of case workers, community health organizers, doulas, nurses and social workers will now operate under the same umbrella: Family Village.
“Family Village: It takes a village to raise a child,” said Joanne Craig, chief impact officer for the foundation at Friday’s launch event at the Lazaretto Ballroom.
The Foundation for Delaware County serves approximately 8,000 people annually through initiatives such as El Centro, Healthy Start, Housing Opportunities Program for Equity, Medical-Legal Partnership, Nurse-Family Partnership and the county’s supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as WIC.
Some of these programs originate from the old Crozer-Keystone Health System, predating the foundation by decades. A little more than a year ago, the foundation decided to centralize all of the programs to create a more accessible “village of care.”
“There is a single point of entry,” Craig said. “We have a single phone number. Anything to make the access to the programs more accessible.”
Shakirah Randolph, a Chester resident, was previously on the receiving end of support from the foundation. When she had her first child during the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation got her access to healthy food. When she had her second child, the foundation matched her with a doula.
“Being on that side, just the care, the support, the love, the team, it really helped me to be that mother that I needed to be for my son and my daughter,” she said.
Randolph decided to pay it forward. She is now a labor doula with the foundation.
“To be able to do that for multiple moms in Chester and Delaware County is what I’ve always wanted to do,” Randolph said. “And so far, I’ve birthed nine babies, one set of twins. So, it’s very fulfilling.”
Shakirah Randolph has lended a helping hand to the community as a doula after receiving assistance from the Foundation fo Delaware County. (Kenny Cooper/WHYY)
