Best babies zone: Year 6 evaluation report

The Best Babies Zone (BBZ) Initiative, launched in 2012 with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, is a place-based, multi-site, multi-sector approach to reducing disparities in infant mortality and birth outcomes. Through community mobilization and local partnerships, the Initiative aims to increase health equity by supporting solutions driven by resident needs in neighborhoods most impacted by disparities in birth outcomes. The BBZ Initiative began with three pilot Zones, now known as Cohort 1: Castlemont, Oakland; Hollygrove, New Orleans; and Price Hill, Cincinnati. Over the last two years, the Initiative brought on six new Zones across the United States (Cohorts 2 and 3) and Initiative leadership, based at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health (UCB), transitioned to a Technical Assistance Center focused on providing a cross-Zone learning community, resources and information, and evaluation support. (author introduction)