Mini-Grants

In 2018, the Friends of La Leche League Board initiated Mini-Grant funding, and the organization has now issued four sets of awards, in 2018, 2020, and 2022, and a much larger set of grants in 2025. Mini-Grants are available for projects that further the mission of Friends of La Leche League. A Mini-Grant committee evaluates project applications and recommends the grant amounts to be approved by the Board. Recipients are required to report on the progress of their projects. The Mini-Grant project has helped Friends of La Leche League pursue its mission around the globe. Individuals who wish to specifically contribute to this program can make a restricted donation by selecting the “Mini-Grants” Donation Type on our Donate page.

Thanks to generous restricted donations received for the program, Friends of La Leche League issued 2025 Mini-Grants awards totalling $21,704! Awards of up to $2,500 each were issued to thirteen innovative projects that align with the Friends of LLL mission. In this round we gave special consideration to project proposals that promoted the new edition of The Art of Breastfeeding.

 

 

Here are short descriptions of each of the 2025 Mini-Grants awarded projects:

• Nourishment & Nurture Brunch and Latch On; Vero Beach, Florida, USA
  Linda Robert, IBCLC, plans to host a brunch in collaboration with the Indian River County Healthy Start WIC during National Breastfeeding Month. The event will welcome expectant and new mothers, La Leche League members, Leaders, as well as other breastfeeding and health care providers. They plan to distribute 60 copies of The Art of Breastfeeding to expectant and new mothers.
• Expanding Outreach to New Families in Chattanooga; Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
  Jennifer Carstens in Chattanooga, TN, seeks to expand their outreach to expectant and new parents in her region by providing informational flyers to obstetric offices and local hospitals, as well as New Parent Welcome Bags with donated baby items and copies of The Art of Breastfeeding.
• The Heart of Breastfeeding — Education and Empowering in Casablanca, Morocco 2025; Casablanca, Morocco
  Samia Bennis, LLL Leader affiliated with LLL France, will organize a two-day training event for health care providers, as well as information sessions for parents, led by LLL Leaders. She will also be providing translation of breastfeeding educational materials in Moroccan Arabic language and culture for Moroccan parents and professionals.
• LLL New Zealand Alumnae Association Membership Drive; New Zealand
  This project aims to increase membership by October 2026, before the New Zealand Conference. LLL NZ Alumnae will locate former Leaders and past members to send a newsletter with membership information, as well as an invitation to the conference. They also plan to donate a few copies of The Art of Breastfeeding to Applicants and new Leaders.
• Working Together to Nuture and Normalise and Protect Breastfeeding; LLL Leaders of Widnes & St. Helens, England
  The Leaders plan to provide several welcoming, comfortable, and safe breastfeeding rooms within their local community, aiming to reach parents who hold asylum or refugee status. They will also create a space where children are welcome, and will provide 31 copies of The Art of Breastfeeding, as well as several children’s books that normalize breastfeeding.
• Breastfeeding in the Neighborhood; Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, USA
  Leaders Janelle Urban, Cindy Garrison, and Julie Ross plan to increase community awareness, normalize breastfeeding, and connect families to their local Group’s resources, and thus increase attendance at their monthly meetings. They will first host a kickoff picnic, and second, purchase several copies of The Art of Breastfeeding to place in Free Little Libraries with Leader contact information and social media handles/website information.
• LLL South Africa Financial Assistance for Gwynneth Jacobs; South Africa
  Funds to assist Gwynneth to attend the 14th International Congress of La Leche League (IAN) conference held in November 2025 in Lima, Peru. Leader Gwynneth Jacobs is described as an outstanding volunteer with many talents. She represents a demographic of non-white Leaders and mothers in South Africa. She will share her newly gained knowledge with other Leaders upon her return.
• Stronger Together: A Lactation Alliance LLL and the Breastfeeding Resource Center Join Forces to Keep Abreast of the Latest Lactation Information; Abington, Pennsylvania, USA
  The Breastfeeding Resource Center (BRC), in partnership with LLL Montgomery County East, will provide a breastfeeding mini-conference. They will invite IBCLCs, Community Counselors, and LLL Leaders. They will be raffling copies of The Art of Breastfeeding for LLL Leaders and Community Counselors to give to families.
• Kamby Ñe’ẽ “The Milk Message” — A Poetic Way in the Guarani Language to Refer to Breastfeeding Education; Paraguay
  Support for Leader Zulma Graciela Chera Ramirez to attend the 14th International Congress of La Leche League (IAN) in Lima, Peru, to be held in November 2025. In addition, she will create and share breastfeeding information in the Guarani language, which is a widely spoken language in rural and underserved communities in Paraguay. She will use social media, local health networks, radio, and will create videos and podcasts to reach mothers.
• Strengthening the Future of La Leche League Dominican Republic: Training, Sustainability, and Impact; Dominican Republic
  Enable Leader Paula Rodriquez Arredondo to attend the 14th International Conference of LLL (IAN) in Lima, Peru. Paula will attend training to be a Communications Skills Facilitator. After her training, she will be able to train three new Leaders. Will also organize a public celebration to commemorate the 35th anniversary of LLL Dominican Republic.
• Creating a Circle of Support for Breastfeeding in Underserved Communities; Savannah, Georgia USA
  Healthy Savannah will host a screening of the “Chocolate Milk” documentary for Leaders, educators, community organizations, healthcare providers, family members, and others who support pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. “Chocolate Milk” explores the complex racial disparities among Black women in the United States. Healthy Savannah will donate 24 copies of The Art of Breastfeeding to local public libraries, and 40 copies of The Art of Breastfeeding to pregnant or nursing mothers who attend the screening. Healthy Savannah will also donate 10 copies of The Art of Breastfeeding to local organizations that serve pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.
• Connecting Caribbean Voices with the LLLI World: Participation of Liga de La Leche Cuba in the 14th International Congress in Lima, Peru (IAN); Cuba
  One Leader and two Applicants will participate in the 14th International Congress of La Liga de Leche, IAN, in Lima, Peru. They will attend training sessions and, upon their return, be able to reinforce their learning through virtual workshops and in-person workshops for others.
• Milk, Melanin, and Motherhood; Omaha, Nebraska, USA
  Project leader Dawn (Fajr) Peter will host a community screening of “Chocolate Milk” during Black Maternal Health Week in April, 2026. The film explores the complex racial disparities in breastfeeding rates among Black women in the United States. Following the screening, a Q&A session will be held to deepen understanding and encourage community dialogue. A raffle, featuring resources that empower and educate, will include three copies of The Art of Breastfeeding.

We thank the 2025 Mini-Grant team — Lupe Forsang, Joan Crothers, and Nancy Blake Franklin — for volunteering to review applications, recommend grants, and follow the progress of these exciting Mini-Grants projects.

Friends of La Leche League received a record number of applications for the 2022 Mini-Grants program. So after much consideration, the Mini-Grants Committee recommended awards of up to $2500 to each of eight innovative projects, for a total grant of $14,589.10!

Here are brief descriptions of the 2022 Mini-Grants projects:

• The Alameda County Latina Chicana (LatCH) Breastfeeding Task Force Lactation Social Media Project produced short videos in English, Spanish, and Mam languages to run on social media platforms accessible by the Latinx community in Alameda County, California.

• Claudia Garcia from LLL Columbia hosted 8-hour training sessions and provided copies of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding to individuals who support breastfeeding families in three areas of the country where LLL does not have a local presence.

• The Area Team of LLL MD-DE-DC hosted individual Virtual Teas with Leaders in their Area to build Area rapport and support.

• LLL Austria funded a sign-language interpreter to help a hearing-impaired Leader Applicant in her training to become accredited as an LLL Leader. The Applicant’s goal as a Leader is to support deaf and hard of hearing mothers who need breastfeeding support in sign language.

• The AANHPI Outreach project created a social media toolkit with breastfeeding educational materials in several languages targeted for Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander (ASAPI) families in the Alameda County area in California. Developed by the ASAPI Breastfeeding Task Force of Alameda County together with the AANPI Lactation Collaboration of California and the AAPI Caucus of the US Breastfeeding Committee, the toolkit includes six different educational messages with social media graphics, each translated into seven different languages. The project team also identified many additional needs for the communities which may spur follow up projects.

• Julia’s Way planned training seminars for recording videos concerning specific breastfeeding challenges faced by mothers of babies with Down syndrome.

• Crystal Clark Douglas, PhD, RD, from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), and Simone P. Campbell, PhD, RD, from Louisiana Tech University, developed four breastfeeding education modules with hands-on learning activities, as well as testing modules to assess the effectiveness of the training for students. These training modules have been implemented into the curriculum for Registered Dietitian eduction at UTMB, Louisiana Tech, and also at the University of Central Arkansas! Recognizing that dietitians are uniquely positioned to promote breastfeeding to new mothers and babies, these programs should help improve breastfeeding outcomes in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

• LLL Spain worked with a professional company to create three Spanish-language videos addressing the most common questions they receive from mothers seeking breastfeeding support. The uploaded the videos to their website and their Youtube channel. They also retained all the recorded images, which can be used to make additional videos and in publications, further benefiting Spanish-speaking breastfeeding families.

We thank the 2022 Mini-Grant team — Cathy Baldizon, Paula Clay, Anne Hutton, and Susan Lawrence — for all their work in reviewing the record number of applications and recommending these valuable projects!

Friends of La Leche League awarded its 2020 mini-grants to four valuable projects across the globe:

• $1385 to a State College, Pennsylvania LLL Group to facilitate the local group adopting Zoom and other techniques to keep them thriving.
• $1615 to an LLL group in North Carolina for a research project to evaluate providing breastfeeding information via text versus traditional LLL support.
• $2500 to LLL Israel to provide breastfeeding education materials in Arabic.
• $2000 to LLL Maine/New Hampshire to hold workshops on equity, diversity and inclusion.

We thank all the 2020 applicants for their project ideas, and especially thank the 2020 Friends of La Leche League Mini-Grant Team who had to choose the recipients from the applicant pool: Cathy Baldizon, Paula Clay, Lupe Forsang, and Linda Parry.

Friends of La Leche League awarded a total of $6,850 in mini-grants to five unique and innovative projects. Grant recipients were:

• Paula Clay, LLL Leader Houston, Texas, USA, to provide breastfeeding support and information to the Santa Maria Hostel in Houston, TX, which serves women who are overcoming addiction.
• Laura Meikle, Leader from LLL of Canada-Vernon British Columbia, to produce an online Prenatal Initiative Kit for Leaders to use to encourage mothers to attend LLL meetings while pregnant.
• Samsarah Morgan of the Oakland Better Birth Foundation California, to produce a flyer representing the effects of enslavement on breastfeeding by African American mothers.
• Francesca Parisi, LLL Leader in Italy, to undertake an LLL “Breastfeeding Tour of Southern Italy” to expand LLL reach in an underserved part of the country.
• Simela Petridou, LLL Leader in South Africa, to provide copies of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding to public libraries in the country.

Congratulations to all the grant recipients who are furthering the mission of Friends of La Leche League. And thank you to the 2018 Friends of La Leche League Mini-Grant Committee: Carroll Beckham, Amy Shaw, and Rebecca Magalhaes.