Brooklyn Borough Hall funds maternal-mental-health certificate at Brooklyn College, pledges support for hospitals
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Summary
Borough Hall announced scholarships for a Brooklyn College prenatal maternal-mental-health graduate certificate and described $45 million in borough-funded hospital investments intended to improve maternal outcomes; officials said implementation is ongoing and results are not yet visible.
Borough Hall announced scholarships to support a new prenatal maternal-mental-health graduate certificate being offered by Brooklyn College and said it has invested in hospital infrastructure and services intended to reduce maternal mortality and support postpartum mental health.
The borough president said the program will train specialists—therapists, doulas and other birth-workers—who can deliver targeted postpartum mental-health care that differs from general therapy. He described the course as "the first of its kind" and said scholarships will be made available to Brooklyn College students.
On infrastructure, the borough president said he committed $45 million to maternal-health projects and that hospital upgrades are underway but that the timeline for completed facilities has been slow: "it takes me 4 years to do a freaking hammering of a hospital," he said, acknowledging there is limited visible proof of the program's impact so far.
Officials said mental-health service expansion, midwife services and community-based baby showers are among interim measures being used while hospitals are completed; they invited community boards to partner on outreach and programming.
Next steps: borough staff will provide more information on scholarship application details and timelines; the office noted ongoing work to build out hospital capacity and community outreach programming.
