BFFC Board Meeting
2026-10-26 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York)
Our board meets on the fourth Monday, and we open every meeting the same way: with a partner community telling us what they are working on.
That is the part we protect. The board has business to do, but the reason this organization exists is the communities doing the Ten Steps where they live. Five minutes of hearing directly from one of them is worth more than anything we could write about them.
Each meeting includes short five-minute rotating updates from partner communities and projects. We just need to know who wants the slot. Send yours to newsletter@breastfeedingcommunities.org, or reach us through the contact form. An update can be one image, one Google Slide, or a few written sentences. Tell us if you would like to join virtually when your update is shared.
If you would rather we built the slide for you, from a recent self-assessment, a photo, or a short note, say so and we will. That is not a lesser option. Send what you have.

NC Breastfeeding Coalition Statewide Meeting: Year End Wrap Up
2026-10-29 12:00 - 13:00
Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities provides technical assistance to the North Carolina Breastfeeding Coalition as we pilot the implementation of the Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community.
What we learned working in local municipalities is that there are some things a local community simply cannot do on its own. Some things have to be done at the state level. This meeting is where local advocates come together to do that work statewide.
This is the year end wrap up. Come see what actually moved in 2026 and help decide what we go after next. Every level of government has a role in this, and so do you.
Meeting details and the registration link are on the NCBC meetings page.

SAFE Support and Strategic Core (S3C)
2026-11-03 13:00 - 14:30
The SAFE Team convenes S3C quarterly for the people doing infant and young child feeding in emergencies work on the ground: the ones writing the plans, sitting on preparedness committees, and answering the phone when the water goes out. SAFE is the national IYCF-E implementation of Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities. If BFFC is the blue skies strategy, the slow work of building communities where feeding a baby is everyone’s business, SAFE is the gray skies strategy, for the days that work gets tested. An emergency does not wait for a community to figure out how babies will be fed. This is where we work through what is actually happening where you are, what is stuck, and what the rest of us have already learned the hard way. Come with foundational IYCF-E knowledge from training, coursework, or response experience. Registration required.

The Invisible Infrastructure: Securing First Food in the Wake of Hurricane Helene
2026-11-09 14:00 - 15:00 | Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA, 90802, United States
Ashley Mickelson and Love Anderson are presenting at the IAEM 74th Annual Conference and EMEX, which is the room where the country’s emergency managers actually are.
SAFE is the national IYCF-E implementation of Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities. If BFFC is the blue skies strategy, the slow work of building communities where feeding a baby is everyone’s business, SAFE is the gray skies strategy, for the days that work gets tested.
Helene showed what happens when the infrastructure that feeds infants is invisible in a plan. It is not a shelter supply line and it is not a medical annex. It is a system of people, and when it breaks there is no form for it. This session makes the case to emergency managers that first food belongs in the plan before the storm, not in the after action report.
Registration and the full program are on the IAEM conference site.

SAFE Infant Feeding Team Retreat
2026-11-18 - 2026-11-22
The SAFE Infant Feeding Team is together in person this week. The team arrives ahead of the Nurse-Family Partnership presentation on the 19th and heads home Sunday.
SAFE is the national IYCF-E implementation of Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities. If BFFC is the blue skies strategy, the slow work of building communities where feeding a baby is everyone’s business, SAFE is the gray skies strategy, for the days that work gets tested.
This is an internal working retreat, not a public event. We are listing it so you know the team will be slow to answer that week. A group that spends the year inside other people’s emergencies has to take a few days to plan its own work on purpose.

The Calm in the Chaos: Protecting Infant Nutrition from House Fires to Hurricanes
2026-11-19 | Wrightsville Beach, 1 Bob Sawyer Dr, Wrightsville Beach, NC, 28480, United States
The full SAFE Infant Feeding Team is at Wrightsville Beach for this one. Norma Escobar is presenting for the North Carolina Nurse-Family Partnership Community of Practice.
SAFE is the national IYCF-E implementation of Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities. If BFFC is the blue skies strategy, the slow work of building communities where feeding a baby is everyone’s business, SAFE is the gray skies strategy, for the days that work gets tested.
Nurse home visitors are often the only person who lays eyes on a family in the days after a house fire or a flood. That is the point of this session. Most of the emergencies that separate a baby from their feeding plan are small and local and never make the news, and the people who catch them are already in the home.
This is a session for the North Carolina Nurse-Family Partnership community of practice. Session time to be announced.

USBC Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Constellation
2026-12-09 13:00 - 14:00
The US Breastfeeding Committee owns this constellation. The SAFE Infant Feeding Team facilitates it. SAFE is the national IYCF-E implementation of Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities. If BFFC is the blue skies strategy, the slow work of building communities where feeding a baby is everyone’s business, SAFE is the gray skies strategy, for the days that work gets tested. Constellations are how USBC does collective work. Member organizations commit to a shared piece of the national agenda and meet over time to actually move it. Facilitating the infant and young child feeding in emergencies constellation means this conversation now has a permanent home inside the national coalition instead of living in a handful of people’s inboxes. Participation is open to US Breastfeeding Committee member organizations. If your organization is a USBC member and you want a seat at this table, contact USBC for an invitation. If you are not a member yet, that is the first step, and it is worth taking.
