March of Dimes Inc

Research - see schedule oresearchwith 1 in 10 babies born too soon each year and two women dying from pregnancy and childbirth complications every day, we continued to fund research to determine the causes and preventions of preterm birth and help more moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies.breakthroughsgroundbreaking strides were made in 2023 at our five prematurity research centers (prcs), including the creation of predictive models for assessing the risk of preterm birth, preeclampsia, and other complications with unparalleled accuracy. additionally, promising initial trials began for a microbiota supplement tailored for individuals at high risk of preterm birth. our teams have also undertaken the development of a comprehensive database to illuminate the intricate connections between environmental exposures and recurrent pregnancy loss and miscarriage, paving the way for targeted interventions and improved maternal and infant health outcomes.grants and awardswe support some of the brightest doctors, scientists, academics, and computational experts in the world through our four research grants and two career awards. last year, we awarded $5.3 million to individuals pursuing transformative translational discoveries aimed at drastically improving the health of pregnant people and their babies.new research center at university of pennsylvanialongstanding racial disparities make the us among the most dangerous developed nations for childbirthwhich is why we launched our research center for advancing maternal health equity, based at the university of pennsylvania, to help close the health equity gap and improve birth outcomes.podcastwe launched our first ever research-based podcast, modcast, which brings scientists, doctors, donors, and families behind the laboratory doors for a fascinating look into the science that is changing, study by study, the story of moms and babies in the us. it had 1,000 downloads in the first six months, and was ranked in the top 100 life science podcasts worldwide.innovation fundwe continued our commitment to fight for families with the march of dimes innovation fund, a venture philanthropy initiative to invest donated funds in early-stage companies working to address the most pressing maternal and infant health challenges. since launching, we've raised $6.75 million for the fund and engaged with a total of 320 companies of interest. we evaluated a number of organizations last year and chose two to invest in, bringing our total to three portfolio companies.

Programs, education, and advocacy - see schedule o education and advocacyprofessional trainingour professional education team ignited necessary change by delivering 11,626 implicit bias training seats to healthcare professionals (including 652 students), with 98% confirming the training met its objectives and 93% saying it will benefit their practice. they also delivered 12,604 seats of other professional education trainings. with cdc funding, over 1,000 healthcare professionals nationwide received free beyond labels training on reducing stigma related to maternal mental health and substance use disorder. this contributed to training 24,230 healthcare professionals in 2023.supportive pregnancy careprenatal care, education, and social support are pregnancy essentials and we continued bringing them where they were most needed with supportive pregnancy care, adding nine new sites for a total of 44 active group prenatal care programs across the country. forty-eight professionals were trained at five of the new sites in 2023, with additional trainings and new sites scheduled to onboard in 2024.it starts with momour consumer education platform, it starts with mom, expanded its reach to help even more women in need, with publications available in both spanish and english. the it starts with mom live webinars received over 778,000 viewsa 200% increase from 2022. itstartswithmom.org also received over 11,300 visits.our reportsas the leading nonprofit voi