The Firecracker Foundation

Don’t forget! Our final gathering will be held open house style at tomorrow, January 12th from 2 - 4pm. 🎆

The Firecracker Foundation will sunset on December 31, 2024. Here’s what you need to know:

The Firecracker Foundation will sunset on December 31, 2024. Here’s a few things you need to know:

At the end of December, The Firecracker Foundation will sunset after 11 years of fierce advocacy. Read our full announcement below:

“It’s a value in that, that somebody can come and support you”

Today we celebrate Montreise Giles, a Black doula improving Black Maternal Health and Infant Mortality through her work as a birthworker at The Firecracker Foundation and within the community. Click the link to watch the interview!

Ingham County has a new effort to help stop Black women from dying from pregnancy-related issues “It’s a value in that, that somebody can come and support you”

“If we raise the bar for Black women, we're raising the bar for everyone that gets services at these hospitals and what hospital-based care looks like. - Domonique Brace, Perinatal Advocacy + Labor Support Coordinator

Maternal mortality rates among Black women are grim. Ingham County hopes to change that. Click here to read the full story from the Lansing State Journal: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KO7nr1zHMN6TktMGX5MagPSzU79Az-oK/view

"In March we had our first birth of the year, which was uplifting and joyful. The client shared it was a great birth experience with their TFF doula, and we were also able to connect them with some amazing resources at a local Community Baby Shower."

Domonique Brace, TFF's Perinatal Advocacy + Labor Support Coordinator shares a GlobalGiving project update.

Click to read: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/doula-care-to-teen-survivors/updates/

Children of color make up 31% of Michigan’s population according to Michigan’s Child Welfare Improvement Task Force, yet they make up 51% of the state foster care population.

“When we separate families, we don’t give anyone a pathway to doing it better,” said Tashmica Torok, [Founding] Codirector of The Firecracker Foundation in Lansing.

Racial disparities remain present in Michigan’s foster care system Children of color make up 31% of Michigan’s population according to Michigan’s Child Welfare Improvement Task Force, yet they make up 51% of the state foster care population.

"Children of color in Michigan are more likely to be placed in institutional settings, stay there for long periods of time and age out of the foster care system without a family.

As a result of these experiences, black and brown children and their families are at greater risk for negative health, social and economic effects."

Tune in to WILX News 10 tonight at 6pm for an interview with Tashmica Torok about solutions to the inequities in the foster system.

Michigan urged to address racial disparities in child protection system While 31% of Michigan’s children are people of color, they make up 51% of its foster care population.

I haven't been obsessed with Satanic Panic without reason. The moral panic that caused law enforcement and mental health practitioners to join forces and criminalize hundreds of people is happening again. Read this piece by Shannon Perez-Darby to learn more about the mythologies around the 'new' anti-trafficking movement and why it's a threat to your bodily autonomy.

Listen to the episode on Sound of Freedom for even more context: https://bit.ly/3UFvv52

Abortion Trafficking is the New Satanic Panic by Shannon Perez-Darby — Accountable Communities Consortium The anti-sex trafficking rhetoric pushed by white anti-sex-work Christians is a moral panic. Like all moral panics it uses the fear mongering of “what about the children!?” to bolster social conservatism. This fear is used to pass conservitizing laws that claim to keep children safe but instead ...

Lawmakers across the country are trying to pass anti-trafficking legislation with a twist. If you live in Idaho, traveling across state lines to access a safe and legal abortion for a minor could land you in prison. Read more here:

Idaho governor signs 'abortion trafficking' bill into law Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed a bill into law that makes it illegal for an adult to help a minor get an abortion without parental consent.