(Watertown, NY) Cornell Cooperative Extension is working to make the North Country a healthier place to live, work and play.
Adopting Healthy Habits with Breastfeeding is funded by the North Country Prenatal Perinatal Council and will help local businesses, groups, community leaders and organizations create policies, practices and environments to make breastfeeding the easy choice for families in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.
A healthy lifestyle is about the choices we all make. Those choices, however, are shaped by the opportunities that surround us. Research demonstrates that people are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors, such as breastfeeding, when community environments make breastfeeding comfortable and convenient.
To this end, Adopting Healthy Habits will work with Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties, as well as with concerned local organizations and individuals to build upon existing efforts and help identify and strategize ways to make changes that work for local communities.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County has awarded $835 to foster policy and environmental changes that support breastfeeding. The following organizations were funded.
- $450.00 will be provided to North Country Children’s Clinic, Jefferson County WIC to create a mobile Nurturing Station that will be used at public events across the tri-county area (Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties) to make breastfeeding convenient and comfortable for breastfeeding families and to contribute to the normalization of breastfeeding to the broader community.
- $330.00 will be awarded to the Lewis County Breastfeeding Support Group to collaborate with and promote local business who implement practices and policies that create an atmosphere of breastfeeding as the normal method of infant feeding.
- $55.00 will be awarded to North Country Children’s Clinic, St. Lawrence County WIC to work with area hospitals to create practices, policies, and environments that support exclusive breastfeeding.
For more information about the mini awards call Amanda Root at Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County at 788-8450 or by emailing arr27@cornell.edu.