Posted on December 10, 2025
On Thursday, December 4, 2025, ACNJ held its Annual Breakfast Celebration with the theme "Stronger Starts: Advancing Maternal and Infant Health in New Jersey." Board Chair Jennifer Robinson thanked our generous sponsors and reflected on the event's origins, sharing how former board chair and fund development committee chair Richard Trenk envisioned this gathering a decade ago—a way to bring people together to network, learn, and celebrate ACNJ's wins for children.
ACNJ president and CEO Mary Coogan welcomed attendees, emphasizing the importance of engaging community voices in our policy work to strengthen outcomes for children and families. She highlighted how our #NJVotes4Kids campaign secured a commitment from gubernatorial candidates to prioritize child care, which will be a major focus for 2026. Sign up for Start Strong NJ. Mary noted that while we may feel overwhelmed by the shifting landscape of policies for children and families, it presents an opportunity to reassess, fine-tune programs, and embrace collaboration. It is a time for action especially with federal changes coming to SNAP and Medicaid.
The maternal health panel, moderated by Atiya Weiss, executive director of The Burke Foundation, was the cornerstone of the event. Thank you to all our speakers. The panel featured Dr. Nastassia Harris, founder of the Perinatal Health Equity Initiative, and Dr. Lisa Asare, CEO of New Jersey's Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority (MIA). Dr. Harris shared how her journey began as a perinatal nurse and lactation consultant, eventually founding her organization after witnessing how Black women were being dismissed and disrespected in healthcare settings. She emphasized that while maternal death rates are concerning, the morbidity rates and trauma experienced by Black mothers are even more alarming, with many women now fearful of having children due to the risks they see publicized.
Dr. Asare brought both professional expertise and personal perspective as a Black mother of three, noting that her daughters face seven times greater risk of maternal complications than their white counterparts—a reality that drives her work. She explained that the crisis stems from multiple factors including lack of paid family leave, systemic racism, healthcare bias, and insufficient social supports, emphasizing that maternal health extends far beyond prenatal visits to encompass housing, transportation, child care, and economic stability.
Both speakers highlighted how medical racism continues to manifest through diagnostic lapses, dismissiveness, and coercion in modern healthcare. Dr. Asare shared that New Jersey is taking a unique, multi-sector approach with 22 state agencies collaborating on maternal health, and MIA is hiring doulas with lived experience to inform policy. The speakers concluded by calling on everyone in the room—including men—to get involved, emphasizing that improving maternal health outcomes requires collective action across all sectors of society.
Immediately following the breakfast, ACNJ offered an extended question and answer session with the panelists as well as other maternal health advocates. This intimate gathering provided sponsors and guests the opportunity to engage directly with the speakers, ask in-depth questions, and gain additional insights into the issues shaping maternal and infant health in New Jersey. In addition to Dr. Harris and Atiya Weiss, the additional panelists included Mariekarl Vilceus-Talty (Partnership for Maternal Child Health of Northern NJ), Helen Hannigan (The Cooperative (SNJ)), Robin D’Oria (Central Jersey Family Health Consortia) and Jill Wodnick (Montclair State University).
