The Lactation Access Fund
Removing financial barriers. Sustaining compassionate care.
The Lactation Access Fund exists to help ensure that cost is not the reason an Alabama family goes without the lactation care they need.
Through community investment and strategic partnerships, the Fund provides no-cost or subsidized lactation care for eligible families experiencing financial or coverage barriers while ensuring providers receive fair compensation for the care they deliver.
Rooted in OMC’s commitment to Lactation Justice, the Fund expands access to care across Alabama while supporting our broader mission to address the inequities that disproportionately impact Black families.
By investing in both families and the community-based lactation workforce, the Fund creates a more sustainable approach to expanding equitable access to care.
Why the Fund Exists
Lactation care is healthcare, yet access to that care remains uneven across Alabama.
Families may encounter insurance limitations, out-of-pocket costs, transportation challenges, provider shortages, and other barriers that make timely lactation care difficult to access. For families already navigating financial constraints, these barriers can mean delaying care or going without it altogether.
These challenges do not affect every community equally. Black families continue to experience inequities across maternal and infant health, including barriers to breastfeeding and access to culturally responsive lactation care.
The Lactation Access Fund helps close these gaps by reducing the financial burden of accessing care while supporting a sustainable model in which lactation professionals are compensated for the services they provide.
This is Lactation Justice in action: expanding access, addressing inequity, and investing in care that families can reach when they need it.
How the Fund Works
The Lactation Access Fund turns community investment into direct access to lactation care.
Funds are used to provide no-cost or subsidized lactation services for eligible Alabama families who experience financial or insurance-related barriers to care.
Through the Fund:
Eligible Alabama Medicaid recipients can receive lactation care at no cost.
Families who do not qualify for no-cost care but are experiencing financial barriers may receive subsidized lactation services when funding is available.
Lactation professionals are compensated for the care they provide, helping ensure that expanding access does not depend on unpaid or unsustainable labor.
Eligibility for Fund-supported care is based on financial and coverage-related barriers and is not limited by race or ethnicity.
Every investment in the Fund helps create a bridge between families who need care and the community-based professionals prepared to provide it.
Your Investment Creates Access
Every contribution to the Lactation Access Fund helps turn financial support into direct access to lactation care.
$150 supports one no-cost lactation consultation
Provides an eligible family with a comprehensive lactation consultation and included follow-up care at no cost to them.
$75 supports one subsidized lactation consultation
Helps reduce the cost of care for a family experiencing financial barriers, with follow-up care included.
Contributions of every size strengthen the Fund and expand the number of families OMC can support.
Whether an investment supports part of a visit, a full consultation, or multiple families, every dollar helps reduce the financial barriers between families and the lactation care they need.
Who the Fund Serves
The Lactation Access Fund supports Alabama families experiencing financial or insurance-related barriers to accessing lactation care.
Fund-supported care may include:
No-cost lactation care for eligible Alabama Medicaid recipients
Subsidized lactation care for families experiencing financial barriers who do not qualify for no-cost services, based on available funding
Eligibility for the Lactation Access Fund is not limited by race or ethnicity.
As a Black-led organization, OMC intentionally centers the experiences of Black families and communities disproportionately impacted by inequities in maternal, infant, and lactation care. This commitment shapes how we approach Lactation Justice while allowing the Fund to serve eligible families across Alabama.
Why Sustainable Care Matters
Expanding access to lactation care requires investing in both the families receiving care and the professionals providing it.
Community-based lactation professionals often provide flexible, culturally responsive care outside of traditional healthcare settings, helping families access support in ways that better reflect their needs and circumstances.
Yet many community-based practices operate with limited insurance reimbursement and rely on a combination of client fees, grants, contracts, and community investment to sustain their work.
The Lactation Access Fund helps bridge that gap. Families experiencing financial barriers can access care at a reduced or no cost, while lactation professionals are compensated for the services they provide.
Because equitable access should not depend on families being able to afford care, or providers being able to afford to give it away.
Help Expand Access
Every investment in the Lactation Access Fund helps strengthen a model of care where financial barriers do not have to determine whether a family receives the lactation care they need.
Your support helps OMC provide no-cost and subsidized care, sustain community-based lactation services, and expand access for families across Alabama.
Together, we are building a future where lactation care is more accessible, equitable, and sustainable—and where the inequities that disproportionately impact Black families remain at the center of our work toward Lactation Justice.