BreastfeedLA Legislative Ambassadors
BreastfeedLA advocates for breastfeeding families by identifying the barriers to successful breastfeeding.
Currently, mothers commonly face barriers such as:
- Hospital policies that discourage breastfeeding
- Health insurance reimbursement problems
- Workplace discrimination on the basis of breastfeeding
- Public breastfeeding discrimination
Addressing these barriers is a major focus of our work.
BreastfeedLA, working with community partners, has championed legislation that:
- Mandated HMO coverage of breastfeeding services and pumps,
- Required state agencies to inform pregnant women about current lactation accommodation laws
- Mandated hospital policies to support breastfeeding
- Made breastfeeding a civil right in California
- Removed barriers to CalWORKS participants who are breastfeeding
Become a volunteer BreastfeedLA Legislative Ambassador and join our advocacy work! BreastfeedLA Ambassadors are volunteers who:
- Advocate for breastfeeding-friendly legislation
- Write letters and takes meetings with Federal and California policy makers
- Educate their communities and employers about breastfeeding policy
- Share BreastfeedLA policy positions, action alerts and messages
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Serve as a BreastfeedLA liaison with the assigned state legislators
- Familiarize yourself with the legislator’s position on breastfeeding
- Develop a relationship with the legislator and the appropriate health policy
- Request to be included in district mailings to constituents
- Receive notices of local meetings/hearings conducted by legislators
- Maintain records of your advocacy correspondence/contacts
- Document and share reports of all contacts (phone, letter, visit) and outcomes to BreastfeedLA staff
- Participate in the BreastfeedLA Ambassadors training
- Attend Special Policy Days, held annually in June, to advocate for breastfeeding, if available
For more information and to sign up, please contact: info@Breastfeedla.org
