Touching Young Lives
www.TouchingYoungLives.com
Shantell Roberts, Founder
Mission
Touching Young Lives Incorporated is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that focuses on the health and well-being of infants and children by providing families and caregivers best practices in childcare and education and resources across socio-economic lines.
Background
Safe sleep in the simplest form.
We increase health and well-being of infants and children across socio-economic lines through Portable Alternative Cribs (P.A.C.s), programs, and events.
Parents have the opportunity to protect their children by both staying informed about potential medical risks and having access to necessary resources. Touching Young Lives strives to ensure the health and well-being of infants and children through providing public information on best practices for infant and child care. In addition, we sell and donate Portable Alternative Cribs to give babies from all socio-economic classes a safe place to sleep.
We provide families with information on best practices for safe sleep and infant and child care. We also provide "train the trainer workshops" for organizations with safe sleep & child care initiatives.
We host family oriented events every year that focus on teaching young bodies, young minds and young lives that promote safe sleep, physical fitness & equip families with essential resources.
Portable Alternative Cribs: About the (P.A.C.) Program
Touching Young Lives receives referrals from several birthing hospitals in Baltimore City where a mother has been identified upon discharge as not having a safe sleeping space for her infant. Mothers can be based in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Charles County, or Cecil County. Referrals are accepted electronically through our website. A mother is met at discharge by a TYL volunteer or educator and provided with a P.A.C. and safe sleep education. Follow up is conducted at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months postpartum to assess how often the P.A.C. is used, where it is used, and to obtain general feedback from users.
Offered by Touching Young Lives, Inc., the P.A.C. is an ultimate safe sleep maternity or postpartum gift for all expectant mothers and caregivers. It is a certified yet simple box that serves as a sleeping space for infants and contains a variety of maternal self care and infant care items. With the mattress in the bottom, the P.A.C. becomes the baby's first bed. After the baby grows out of this sleeping place, caregivers can use it for the baby's keepsake storage or to store other household items.
Each P.A.C. includes a variety of maternal self-care and infant care items. The base items include diapers, wipes, a onesie, infant hygienic products, preventative infant care literature, and handmade crochet blankets to be used for swaddling.
Dollar Value
For every $50, we donate two P.A.C.s to families in need.
Grant Use
The funds would be used exclusively to scale our "Safe Sleep All-star" pilot programs. This community-based and driven initiative will be led by former Portable Alternative Crib users in high infant mortality neighborhoods within the 7 jurisdictions, to which we currently distribute. This 7-month, peer-led model will allow community members to educate fellow community members and peers, from a first-person perspective, about their familiarity with the following: safe sleep education, proper Portable Alternative Crib usage, and general infant care practices.
““I chose to turn my pain into a purpose. However, I am just one finger of a mighty fist pushing families into a position where they can become the best possible versions of themselves. As a bereaved mother, this work reminds me that my daughter’s death was not in vain and that her legacy lives on.” – Shantell Roberts, Founder & Executive Director”