Southern Illinois Grassroots

Maternal and Child Health Initiative

Recognizing the critical intersection between maternal and family health, early childhood development, and the rural social determinants of health, The Little Resource Center–Carbondale (TLRC), the Southern Illinois Resource and Advocacy Center (SIRAC), and the Illinois Public Health Association (IPHA) came together to launch the Southern Illinois Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Initiative (SIG-MCH) in 2024.

SIG-MCH is a regionally grounded collaborative effort that works to reduce maternal and child health disparities—particularly among Black, rural, and underserved families across the seventeen southernmost counties of Illinois. By leveraging the expertise of community-based organizations, public health professionals, and local early childhood education leaders, SIG-MCH seeks to create a more equitable and responsive system of care for pregnant and parenting individuals and their young children.

Since its inception, SIG-MCH has collaborated to address systemic challenges that impact families and communities across the region including:

Providing support for perinatal mental health challenges during pregnancy or after birth by using the real-life experiences of others to create new ways to help and speak up for families who are struggling.
Preventing early adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through increased community awareness and the delivery of supportive, family-centered programming;
Delivering evidence-based reproductive health education and services tailored to meet the needs of Southern Illinois communities;
Mitigating social determinants of health barriers such as food insecurity, transportation access, and care navigation Southern Illinois families;
Expanding and diversifying Southern Illinois’ maternal-child health and family support workforce by training and deploying community health workers, peer support specialists, and culturally competent doulas;
Developing a cross-sector workforce education network for professionals serving pregnant and parenting families, including those in healthcare, child welfare, early childhood education, and behavioral health;
Enhancing early childhood systems coordination by partnering with local Head Start, home visiting, and childcare providers to improve outreach, access, and culturally relevant services for families with children ages birth to five;
Providing culturally competent, evidence-based parent education workshops on topics such as responsive parenting, potty training, child development, and navigating early childhood systems—ensuring that materials and delivery methods are inclusive, trauma-informed, and linguistically accessible, including translation into Spanish.

Reach out to learn more about SIG-MCH

SIG-MCH has received endorsement from the following agencies:

Birth to Five Illinois - Council #21
Birth to Five Illinois - Council #30
CASA of Southeastern Illinois
CASA of Southern Illinois
CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health
Drug Endangered Children Alliance of Southeastern Illinois
Illinois Public Health Association
Illinois Rural Health Association
Partnership for Resilience
Lutheran Social Service of Illinois
Rainbow Cafe LGBTQ+ Center
SIU School of Medicine Children’s Medical and Mental Health Resource Network
Southern IL Coalition for Children and Families
Southeastern IL Positive Youth Development Coalition
The Guardian Center, Inc.
Union Co. Child Abuse Prevention Coalition

Southern Illinois Resource and Advocacy Center

Hours

Monday - Friday

9 am - 5 pm

Location

193 West Shawnee Ave

Shawneetown, IL 62984

Contact

info@siresources.org
223-244-2597

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