Pass the Mic: Reinvigorating Global Efforts to Reduce Maternal and Child Mortality

By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs at Global Communities In 2012, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Governments of India and Ethiopia to convene the Child Survival Call to Action, which galvanized unprecedented commitments from governments and civil society around the…

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Giving San Diego Infants a Healthy Start through Lactation Education and Access 

By Lizzie Hickman The recent baby formula shortage in the United States (U.S.) has brought attention to infant nutrition needs and costs. The scarcity highlighted a larger conversation around the importance of breastfeeding/chestfeeding, inequity in healthcare and barriers parents face to accessing lactation services.   In the U.S., Black birthing parents are nine times more likely to…

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Q&A with Arwa Alkhawaja, COVID Outreach Specialist in San Diego

By Natalia López-Thismón When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Global Communities (then operating as PCI) moved quickly to collaborate with the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to the community through contact tracing. Since then, our programming has shifted into education and vaccine outreach as…

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Reducing Black Maternal Deaths by Raising the Standard of Care

Rooted in institutional racism and implicit biases, and impacted by the social determinants of health, Black women are three to four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than their white peers. At least 60 percent of these deaths are preventable, which is why Global Communities’ Healthy Start program provides a continuum of high-quality maternal and infant care for diverse Black and immigrant communities in San Diego, CA.

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Facts about Human Trafficking and COVID-19’s Impact on the Illicit Industry

By Lizzie Hickman Although Human Trafficking Awareness Month is coming to a close, Global Communities continues our work to diminish human trafficking in San Diego by educating children, parents and teachers to identify the signs of exploitation and offer empowerment programs that reduce children’s vulnerability to traffickers. We also press on to mitigate the spread…

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Shining a Spotlight on Sex Trafficking in San Diego

In recognition of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, PCI, a Global Communities Partner, has teamed up with Eleanor Roosevelt College at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) to shine a spotlight on one of the city’s largest underground economies. Over the weekend, the partners kicked off the first of two Saturday workshops to…

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Waterloo Community Needs Assessment

Global Communities was asked by John Deere to design and conduct a participatory community needs assessment in Waterloo, Iowa in partnership with local community members and local partners. The assessment used an participatory-based approach to develop an in-depth understanding of the assets, opportunities, and gaps existing in the Waterloo community in order to inform and…

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Meet Stacey Williams, PCI Changemaker

Less than a month ago, Stacey Williams packed up her life on the East Coast and moved to San Diego with three teenagers in tow to begin work as the new Director of Human Trafficking Prevention Programs at PCI, a Global Communities Partner. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has upended how she is able to…

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Turning Up the Volume on Black Maternal Health in the US

Ahead of Black Maternal Health Week and in recognition of the critical support provided by nurses, midwives and community health workers year-round, PCI’s Healthy Start Director Lisa Bain and licensed midwife Nikki Helms spoke with Drew Schlosberg of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Listen on to learn more about how we are addressing disparities in perinatal…

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Standing Up for Human Rights Today and Every Day

This holiday season, Project Concern International (PCI) asked the families we work with all over the world one question: What is your greatest wish for the children in your community? From clean water and education to better health and safety, their answers made one thing abundantly clear—the fundamental rights of one child should not be…

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Delivering Positive Birth Experiences to Black Women in San Diego

Darynée Blount had every intention of becoming a lawyer. But after traumatic birth experiences with her first two children, she decided to pursue justice in a different setting – America’s health care system. “The care I was getting and the treatment in the hospital, how that all played out, was abysmal for me,” says Blount, who describes…

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Paying Success Forward, One Book at a Time

Kimmy Brooke understands firsthand how a network of empowered women can change a life. Before she became a successful entrepreneur, author and leadership coach, Brooke remembers the isolation she felt as a single mom, struggling to move forward with a stagnant bottom line. “I found myself at the age of 40 divorced and turned upside…

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Protecting San Diego Youth from Human Trafficking

Today is #HumanTraffickingAwarenessDay. Of all the trafficking victims reported globally, did you know almost one-third are children? To help combat this issue on a local level, PCI implemented Project ROOTS (formerly known as Girls Only! and Boys Only!) in partnership with the San Diego Unified School District and the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. Project…

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