CRENSHAW : Prenatal-Care Effort Gets $10,000 Gift

The Boys Markets donated $10,000 last week to Great Beginnings for Black Babies, a Crenshaw-based organization that emphasizes prenatal care among African-Americans.

In a ceremony at The Boys market in Inglewood, Fred Snowden, executive director of The Boys/Viva Foundation, presented the donation to Dr. Virginia Hunter, founder of Great Beginnings for Black Babies. Several celebrities were on hand, including actors Marla Gibbs, Lynn Whitfield, Dick Anthony Williams, Kene Holliday and singer Syreeta.

“We were down to our last 25 pieces of stationery,” said Jeanne Taylor, a spokeswoman for Great Beginnings. “This will pay our rent through the year.”

Great Beginnings is best known for its initial, hard-hitting media campaign, which featured billboards depicting a drug-addicted black infant hooked to life-support machines, stating “He couldn’t take the hit.” The organization is now working to implement a project in which public-health professionals assist women in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Despite the financial boost, Taylor said, much more is needed. Great Beginnings is partially funded by the state Department of Health Services and private groups, but neither source will cover the costs of more extensive media and community outreach campaigns planned by the organization, Taylor said.

“We were conceived as a three-year project when we started our office in 1991, but we need to keep going,” Taylor said, citing a state report issued late last year that showed a marked decrease in the black infant mortality rate. “We are making a difference, but we need to go five to seven years.”