Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities has provided technical assistance to communities beyond the ones actively working through the Ten Steps today. Some completed what they set out to do. Some folded into a larger effort. Some lost the person who was carrying the work, which in a volunteer led field happens more often than anyone would like.
We keep these communities listed because the work they did was real, and because we would welcome hearing from anyone who wants to take it up again. Each entry says plainly what our role was and when.
North Carolina
Chapel Hill and Carrboro
Where the Ten Steps began. Chapel Hill and Carrboro piloted the framework from 2014, and the mayors of both towns accepted Certificates of Intent in August 2015. The work is now continued by Breastfeed Orange NC, and Carrboro became the first community to complete all ten steps in June 2025.
Hendersonville and Henderson County
Henderson County was proclaimed a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community and worked with BFFC from 2020. We reached out again after Hurricane Helene in 2024. The person carrying the work there was badly affected by the storm, and we have not been able to re-establish contact since. The door is open.
Wake County
Wake County worked with BFFC from 2023 to 2025, on business engagement and welcome signage in county spaces.
Beyond North Carolina
Queens, New York
Queens joined the BFFC network in 2023, through Supporting Our Mothers Initiative.
Cincinnati and Surrounding Counties, Ohio
The Southwest Ohio Breastfeeding Coalition worked with BFFC from 2023 to 2024.
South Bend, Indiana
BFFC provided technical assistance to South Bend from 2021 to 2023, through the St. Joseph County WIC program at Beacon Health System.
Pennsylvania
Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities continues to work with the Lycoming Clinton Breastfeeding Coalition and the Williamsport team. The entries below are earlier Pennsylvania work that is no longer active.
Pennsylvania Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics
From 2022 through 2023, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics introduced the Ten Steps to local teams across the state through its First Food and Keystone 10 programs. PA AAP convened the January 2023 statewide introduction, brought the Chester and Williamsport teams into the framework, commissioned a BFFC training webinar, and documented both communities’ early progress. Our role was technical assistance. PA AAP’s breastfeeding programs continue under the chapter’s First Food Network.
Chester
In February 2023 the Chester community team, coordinated through the Delaware County Foundation, completed a Ten Steps self assessment and chose to concentrate on Steps 2, 4 and 7. The team created a Breastfeeding Welcome Here window sticker taken up by local businesses, drafted a proclamation for city government, and set a goal of Spanish language resources for Chester’s Spanish speaking families. We provided technical assistance and published the community’s story. Chester’s team is not currently active in the network.
Wilkinsburg
In 2022, Healthy Start, Inc. in Pittsburgh brought a group of Wilkinsburg stakeholders to BFFC to learn about the Ten Steps, and we provided an orientation to the designation process. Healthy Start’s Center for Urban Breastfeeding continues its lactation support, education, advocacy and outreach work with Black families in Allegheny County. The Wilkinsburg Ten Steps effort did not continue past that early stage.
If one of these is you
If you are working on breastfeeding support in any of these communities, or you have picked up something that was started here, we would be glad to hear from you, and there is no cost to restarting. Please contact us.