Business Plan

LActation Support Group

Hannah Sanders and Jessica Plasencia

FSN 426
6/3/2020

Executive Summary:
 LActation support group is a non-profit organization located in the Franklin Avenue
Baptist Church dedicated to providing breastfeeding support to the community of New Orleans,
Louisiana. Louisiana consistently demonstrates decreased breastfeeding behavior statistics in
comparison to many other states. The national goal is to have 25.5% of all infants breastfeeding
exclusively through 6 months and Louisiana only has 13.4% of infants breastfeeding exclusively
through this time period. This program will help decrease this disparity by partnering up with
Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) and La Leche League, two local breastfeeding support
organizations, to amplify our population reach and form a community based approach to make
breastfeeding materials, education, and support more accessible.
This population is ideal for intervention due to steady increase in breastfeeding behavior
rates until now, despite being below national averages. Small improvements in data indicate
population motivation and openness to change. Our multidimensional approach emphasises
community by holding support groups bi-monthly with lactation counselors to help answer
questions and address problems that may arise during the breastfeeding process. During
meetings, lactation counselors will educate on the benefits of breastfeeding for both the mother
and the baby. At this time, group members will be able to bond over the shared experience of
breastfeeding and may offer support or insight to each other to help make the process easier. The
church will hold breastfeeding supplies on location for individuals to take as needed so that
resources will not be a deterring factor to continuing breastfeeding. These combined factors can
help stimulate change by utilizing people of the community to bring awareness. Increased social
representation in a non-intimidating environment can help increase breastfeeding rates within the
community while simultaneously addressing other infant health disparities.
Co-management of the operation will be directed by Hannah Sanders and Jessica
Plasencia. They will guide the partnership between WIC, La Leche League, and Franklin Avenue
Baptist Church to form a sustainable relationship that may prosper and continue to grow into the
community. The initial annual budget for this project is estimated to be $25,350 and is only
projected to increase with the growing number of participants.
LActation Support Group plans to continue to serve their members through the use of
surveys to gain insight into the perspectives and behaviors regarding breastfeeding. The
questions asked will not only give objective values of women breastfeeding but provide an
opportunity to identify correlation between the community and breastfeeding rates that the team
possibly missed during the Community Needs Assessment. If alternative reasons are identified,
the team members will then meet and discuss any possible changes that can be made to better
accommodate the population and the project directors will finalize any changes deemed of
benefit to the project.
Company Summary
LActation Support Group is a non-profit organization in New Orleans, LA directed by
Hannah Sanders and Jessica Plasencia, with representatives from WIC and La Leche League as
well as interns and volunteers to help facilitate success. The main services of this program
include breastfeeding education, support and material distribution.
 Despite the fact that LActation Support Group is held at a church, it has no religious
affiliation. All pregnant women, breastfeeding moms and supporters are welcome. The venue
was specifically chosen to bring in a majority of African American participants to decrease the
disparity that they face when it comes to breastfeeding, but people of all racial and ethnic
backgrounds are welcome.
Layout of Location
LActation Support Group operates out of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. Workshops
are held in the classroom which is in close proximity to the storage area where all lactation
supplies and educational materials are stored. This church is fully ADA compliant.

Expected First-Year Budget

Item Description Cost ($) Justification Funding Source

1. Haakaa manual Breast $5,000 Breast pumps will be Grant funding

Pump via Amazon ($12.94 necessary to supply the
each) mothers with the tools
necessary to be successful

2. Lansinoh Breastmilk $6,000 Breastmilk storage bags will Grant funding

Storage Bags, 100 count ($13.94 be necessary to supply the
via Amazon each) mothers with the tools
necessary to be successful

3. Lansinoh Lanolin Nipple $1,500 Nipple cream will be Grant funding

cream for Breastfeeding via ($8.29 necessary to supply the
Amazon each) mothers with the tools
necessary to be overcome
the difficulties associated
with breastfeeding

4. Breastfeeding education $150 Create pamphlets in order Grant funding

pamphlets (1000 ct)
($46.12 to inform or remind
each) mothers of correct
breastfeeding
techniques, relevant benefits,
and sources for support

8. Snacks for breastfeeding $3,000 To keep mothers happy Grant funding

meetings and coming to meetings,
simple and small
beverages/snacks will be
provided at the meetings

10. Breastfeeding counselor $7,000 This will be paid hourly for bi- Grant funding
monthly meeting assistance
and helping create and plan
support groups.

11. Franklin Avenue $1,000 This will be paid up front for Grant funding
Church venue the entire year. Meetings will
be held bi-monthly.

12. Social media ads $500 To increase awareness and Grant funding
marketing perception of non-
profit campaign

13. Flyer materials (paper, $200 To increase awareness and Grant funding
printing, posting) marketing perception of non-
profit campaign

14. Unanticipated expenses $700 In case of an emergency or Grant funding

unanticipated expenses,
 this covers monetary funds
necessary to supply the
project

Totals: $25,050

- Cost to customer: all breastfeeding supplies will be donated to women of the

community at no charge to them.
- Venue: Franklin Avenue church graciously agreed to host Support Group meetings
within their church at a reduced price of $1000 per year.

Services
- Material distribution including breast pumps, breast milk storage bags, nipple cream, and
educational pamphlets
- Education from breastfeeding counselors about proper breastfeeding techniques as well
as the multitude of benefits breastfeeding has on a baby and mother
- A safe space for pregnant women, new moms and supporters to talk about their
experiences, weaknesses, strengths and lessons

Competitors: While WIC and La Leche league already exist within this community, they come
with limitations. Those who are members of WIC have access to support and resources but they
must meet eligibility requirements in order to do so. Those who are members of La Leche
League have access to support but this organization does not have an established meeting
location which brings uncertainty to the group. By extending our reach into the community, more
obtainable resources will be available to women who may not meet the eligibility requirements
of WIC which relies on discretionary funding. LActation Support Group will guarantee free
resources and services to the public through entitlement grant funding.
Additionally, other programs for breastfeeding women do not emphasize care to minority
groups. By hosting our program at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, a predominantly black
church, we can increase our visibility to African American women. Our goal is to help narrow
the disparity between minority groups when it comes to breastfeeding and healthy, happy babies.

Possible Grant Sources: Ms. Women’s Grants, NIH, NACCHO, USBC (United States
Breastfeeding Committee), Louisiana breastfeeding coalitions/collaboratives, March of Dimes,
WIC offices, family health centers, charitable or religious organizations, women’s health
foundations, and/or perinatal health foundations.

Community Needs Assessment

New Orleans Community Health Improvement Plan: Second Revision. November 2016
Goals:
1. IMPROVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, NUTRITION, AND QUALITY OF LIFE FOR
ALL RESIDENTS.
2. ENSURE THAT EACH CHILD AND HIS/HER FAMILY MAY ACHIEVE AND
MAINTAIN THEIR OPTIMAL WELL-BEING.

Objectives:
1. Implement early childhood obesity prevention strategies by developing new and
supporting existing initiatives designed to: increase physical activity, promote
healthy eating, and encourage and support breastfeeding for children in New
Orleans.
2. Increase the proportion of infants who are breastfed.

Lead Organization New Orleans Health Department

Assessment Focus HP 2020: MICH-21.5: Increase the proportion of infants who

are breastfed exclusively through 6 months

Community Residents of New Orleans

Target Population African American women of childbearing age

ACCESS TO PRENATAL AND POSTNATAL CARE
Improving access to healthy food is important in all environments, but especially to a
breastfeeding mother and her baby. Beginning in 2012, CHI (Community Health Initiative)
partners have worked to improve the food environment in New Orleans using several approaches
including campaigning to promote male support for breastfeeding mothers.

In Orleans Parish, prenatal care has shown to be unevenly distributed, with neighborhoods that
are the most economically disadvantaged reporting the lowest number of prenatal care recipients.
In addition to adequate and timely prenatal care, the support and care received postpartum is
important in ensuring the long-term health of the family. The early postpartum period is critical
for establishment and maintenance of a breastfeeding regimen.

EFFORTS TO INCREASE ACCESS TO PRENATAL AND POSTNATAL CARE

CHI partners continue to offer families a strong continuum of care from preconception to years
after the birth of a child. At the core of partner efforts is the goal of promoting overall family
health throughout the course of life. Both before and after the birth of a baby, partners such as
NOHD’s HSNO, Fussy Baby Network (FBN), and Nurse Family Partnership (NFP), offer home
visitation services as a key method of delivering perinatal case management and parenting
support services to new mothers and fathers.

Those who participated in services such as home visitation and educational programs have
shown increased levels of self-efficacy as parents and caregivers and their babies have
experienced positive birth outcomes such as healthy birth weight.

The state based Gift program will continue working with local birthing facilities to ensure that in
the hours before and after birth, evidence based practices are implemented to optimize health of
the mother and child through increased breastfeeding rates, improved quality of maternity
services, and enhanced patient-centered care. (“The Gift is an evidence-based program for
Louisiana birthing facilities designed to increase breastfeeding rates and hospital success by
improving the quality of their maternity services and enhancing patient-centered care.”)

EFFORTS TO STRENGTHEN AND ENHANCE COMMUNITY SYSTEMS

At the community level, partners assist in increasing community awareness, shifting community,
developing networks to share information, and establishing strong systems of support. For
example, partners such as the Greater New Orleans Breastfeeding Awareness Coalition, LDH-
OPH-BFH, Tulane Mary Amelia Center, and NOHD’s HSNO and Women, Infants and Children
(WIC) programs, have put significant effort into increasing breastfeeding awareness through
consistent messaging to the community; making breastfeeding more accessible by increasing the
number of safe and convenient spaces to breastfeed and increasing access to systems of support
for those such as fathers, teens, or Spanish speakers, who often face significant barriers. At the
systems level, partners work to cultivate local advocacy networks around major issues, such as
employer-based paid family leave and lactation support policies, known to facilitate or further
the development of health inequities experienced by families across the city.

Market Analysis
The national goal is to have 25.5% of infants breastfeeding exclusively through 6 months.
However, the latest data collected indicates that the state of Louisiana only has 13.4% of infants
breastfeeding exclusively through 6 months (USCB, 2018). The city of New Orleans, Louisiana
demonstrates a need due to a significantly lower percentage of mothers breastfeeding their infant
exclusively through 6 months when compared to the national average, especially in the African
American community.
The city of New Orleans also has nearly double the amount of people living in poverty
than the national average, 25.4% vs 11.8% (USCB, 2018). The Federal Racial Demographic
demonstrates that 13.4% of the population identifies as African American in the United States,
while 59.8% of the New Orleans population identifies as African American (USCB, 2018); this
is a 46.4% difference.
 Nationwide the African American community consistently demonstrates much lower
breastfeeding rates than all other races, including those with similar socioeconomic status.
Nationally 83.9% of infants are breastfed ever in their lives, but in the state of Louisiana this
number is only 70.1%, a 13.7% difference (CDC, 2016). Similarly, infants being breastfed at 6
months falls 15.4% below the national average. Infants breastfed exclusively through 3 months is
18.5% below the average, and infants breastfed exclusively through 6 months trails behind
national averages by 9.3% (CDC, 2016). The World Health Organization (WHO) states that
breastmilk is the best source of nutrition for babies due to its bioactive components that protect
against illness and infection (WHO, 2018). Essentially, increasing breastfeeding rates may aid in
diminishing other infant health disparities found between the racial groups living in New
Orleans.
While there are several breastfeeding support groups within the New Orleans Parish, an
established resource for all does not. The community demonstrates low breastfeeding behavior
rates and high rates of unhealthy behaviors that are perpetuating unhealthy behaviors for the
following generations. Although there was no city specific data available, in the state of
Louisiana, 75.2% of African American mothers use WIC (March of Dimes, 2004). This
demonstrates a large desire to seek federal aid and willingness to adhere to support groups set up
within the community. Additionally this population is ideal for our business because of a steady
3% increase in breastfeeding behaviors within the past 5 years, reinforcing population openness
to behavior change.
Currently, programs like La Leche League, Cafe Au Lait, and CHAMPS NOLA Baby
Cafe offer resources to mothers and are somewhat successful but cannot offer formal settings for
mothers to arrive with questions or recieve resources. These programs do, however, offer
mothers support to speak with Certified Lactation Consultants that offer information to appease
the difficulties that come with the breastfeeding process. With strong support already present
within New Orleans, founding a physical support center can bring partnership within several
small support groups to help make a big impact.

Marketing Strategy & Situational Analysis

Example of promotion material to be posted on social media and as a physical flyer:
Marketing Plan: Marketing for this program will be done primarily through social media
advertisements and flyers. Instagram and Facebook charge $0.50-1.00 per click. At a rate of
$0.75 per click, the example ad and others like it will be visible until 667 people click-through.
With an average clickthrough rate of 52%, our ads will likely reach over 1,300 people in the
New Orleans area. The ad will route to the LActation Support Group website. We chose this
medium because Facebook’s highly accurate ad targeting will allow us to reach our target
population more easily and for less money. Our other main marketing plan is to post flyers
around New Orleans, making sure to post in WIC clinics, grocery stores, food banks, hospitals,
clinics, and childcare facilities. Leftover flyers will be posted in salons (concentrating in African
American salons), coffee shops and bulletin boards.
Sales Forecast: as LActation Support Group is a non-profit organization, a sales forecast is not
applicable. In order to evaluate the success of our business, we will instead be using assessments
including formative, impact, outcome, summative and process evaluations.

SWOT Analysis
- Strengths:
- LActation Support Group provides breastfeeding materials for free
- We welcome anyone and everyone
- Our program addresses disparities that are often overlooked
- Weakness
- As this program is grant funded, it’s longevity is not as clear as with other
programs
- We have a small staff and may not be able to meet the needs of all of our
participants
- Opportunities
- Interns can learn more about small businesses and can develop management skills
- New programs have a lot of room for growth
- Threats
- Retraction of grant funding may cause the program to cease to exist

4 P’s of Marketing
- Product
- LActation Support Group is a group for pregnant women, breast or bottle feeding
moms and supporters. Services include education on the benefits of breastfeeding
and how to do it, a place for people to share their experiences, and distribution of
breastfeeding materials.
- Price
- This service is free to participants
- Place
- Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, LA
- Promotion
- Promotion will be done via social media advertisements and flyers

Management Summary
Organizational Chart
Staff
Project Directors: Jessica Plasencia & Hannah Sanders
a. Primary associates in designing project goals and success markers. Ensure the project
remains on time and within budget. Motivate team members to reach goals. The Project
Directors have a final decision on program direction or needed change of plan.
b. These team members have experience working with lower income populations and
minority groups. Their career focuses have been directed at diminishing disparities in
health care.
Team member: Olivia Jackson
a. Interning Breastfeeding Educator, reports to Directors
b. This intern has been recruited for the year long program prior to attending graduate
school. She will advocate for and educate the population on accurate breastfeeding
practices. This team member will finalize informative breastfeeding pamphlets with
accurate, relevant information. This team member has worked as a breastfeeding educator
prior and will be of benefit to our project.
- Personnel
- Hannah Sanders - Co-Director
- Jessica Plasencia - Co-Director
- Breastfeeding Educator (CLC)
- Interning Breastfeeding educator
- Volunteers
Job description
- Interning Breastfeeding Educator
 - Location: Franklin Avenue Baptist Church
- Job Summary: Employee is to educate the population on accurate breastfeeding
practices. Tasks also include designing informative take-home materials (pamphlets,
flyers) with accurate and relevant information.
- This employee reports to the Program Directors
- Working conditions are up to standard, as the facility is an established church.
- Job duties include setting up the classroom to accommodate workshops, brainstorming
discussion topics, keeping inventory and taking attendance.
- Background check required
- This is an unpaid internship
Job specification
- Qualifications: Applicant must have a high school diploma. College or some college in
the healthcare realm preferred. Must be proficient in Microsoft Powerpoint and Word.
- Experience: Applicant must be comfortable working with infants and mothers.
Preferable experience in childcare including caring for a younger sibling,
babysitting/nannying, interning, working at a school or daycare, etc.
- Training: Applicant must be CPR certified. Upon hire, applicant will complete an
online breastfeeding education course by LactationLink. This course will take around 3
hours and includes interactive modules.
- Skills: Applicant should be empathetic and open-minded. Experience with or training
about cultural competency, especially with the African American community is
preferred.
- Responsibilities: Keeping track of inventory of breast pumps, lactation bags, nipple
cream, maintaining client confidentiality.
- Time commitment: 6 hours/week, including workshop planning, set up, programming,
and tear down.
Orientation
- Filing of tax documents for paid employees (I-9, W-4, background check form, direct
deposit form)
- New employees are given a name tag
- Introduction of new employees to all current staff of LActation Support Group and
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church as a whole.
- Explain safety protocol including fire exits, hurricane and tornado procedure.
Training
- Go over what a typical workshop entails
- Church tour, focusing on classroom and storage room
- Explain how to use equipment such as the office computer, printer, phone, internet,
email, company website
- Explain what goes in storage and where
- Sample Lesson Plan
- Proper Sign-In Sheet Protocol
- Needs Assessment: In order to know whether a program is
successful or not, evaluations must take place. In order for
evaluations to take place, data needs to be recorded. That is why
keeping track of attendance for our workshops is so important.
- Audience: New Interning Breastfeeding Educator(s) at
LActation support group
- Time: This lesson will be given to new Interning
Breastfeeding Educator(s) upon hire and is to be completed
before their first workshop.
- Place: As our program operates on a bimonthly basis, this
lesson will be given via video and is to be watched at any
point before the intern’s first workshop.
- Objectives
- Interns are able to document necessary demographic data at
the beginning of every workshop.
- Pre-Assessment
- In the video, one of the Directors is to explain why Sign-In
data is important to the success of this operation. They will
talk about the reason why this project was resurrected (we
want to empower African American women to breastfeed
more often and more successfully). Next, the Director will
ask the intern to pause the video and write down what data
they think would be necessary to measure the success of the
program. Next, the Director will go over the true data
required, including participants' name, date of birth,
participant type (breastfeeding mother or supporter),
ethnicity, whether they are a member of the church or not,
their child’s age, and what supplies they want. The director
will tell the intern that by having them sign the participants
in verbally, the participant’s confidentiality is maintained.
Then, the director will show where the sign-in sheets are
stored (filing cabinet in the storage closet), and when to
take attendance (at the beginning of each workshop).
- Post-Assessment
- To assess information retention, the Director will show an
image of our Sign-In spreadsheet which has cells for each
data point on the screen and ask the intern to copy it onto
their paper. The Director will ask the intern to take notes as
they play the role of a participant in a practice scenario.
The intern will fill out the table to completion. If the intern
 has any questions, they are to reach out to the Director via
email.
- Summary
- This short lesson is an easily accessible way for interns to
learn more about what this business is about, as well as
how to contribute to its success. The Sign-In sheet is one of
the key factors to ensuring the continuation and support of
this program.
Sample Policy
- Personnel and volunteer staff must be committed to helping breastfeeding individuals
breastfeed their infants for the first 6 months of life and encourage them to continue
breastfeeding partially for the first year of their life.
Sample Procedure
- All volunteers and staff must perform job duties whole heartedly to represent the
organization well.
- All volunteers and staff must respect participant confidentiality.
- All volunteers and staff must arrive to support meetings on time and prepared to follow
through with their shift.
- Staff should communicate openly with program directors to ensure participants'
concerns and suggestions are being heard.

Financial Plan
Assumptions
- LActation Support Group will be financially supported through grant funding. All
financial needs will be obtained through donations and grant sources. This organization
will function as a non-profit and will grow and continue to donate all proceeds back into
the community.
Service Costs
- Breastfeeding educator (CLC) will be paid hourly for bi-monthly meetings. Hours may
vary but $7,000 of budget is set aside to fund breastfeeding educator.
- Equipment and supplies:
- Venue: Franklin Avenue Baptist Church will function as a venue at the reduced price
cost of $1,000 annually.
- Cost to customer: Free to all mothers 1 or more infants under the age of 8 months old.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Journal of Health Policy and Planning
- 595,379 childhood (6 months-5 y/o) deaths from diarrhea and pneumonia
annually related to not following WHO and UNICEF breastfeeding
recommendations.
- 974, 956 cases of childhood obesity related to not breastfeeding according
to WHO and UNICEF recommendations.
 -98,243 estimated maternal deaths to be prevented through following
breastfeeding recommendations.
- The total U.S. economic losses of healthcare treatment are estimated to be
$28.27 million.
- The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding
- If 90% of U.S. families followed global WHO and UNICEF breastfeeding
guidelines, the U.S. would save $13 billion in direct and indirect costs of
premature death.
- There are estimated to be 126.22M households in the U.S.
- Assessment:
- By using # of households in the country/ money saved by 90% of families
breastfeeding in the U.S., each household would save $102.99. If we have
250 participants in our program in the first year we would see a ratio of
1.02. Furthermore, the cost benefit analysis shows that our program would
see success within the community and be beneficial to fund.

Program cost $25,050

Money saved per household $102.99

Estimated Participants 250

Cost-Benefit ratio 1.02

Expected Budget- Found on page 4

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