MomsFirst, the City of Cleveland program that aims to help parents deliver and raise healthy babies, has a new director: Khadijah Fair.
The new MomsFirst’s project director replaces Lisa Matthews, who retired after 30 years with the program.
Fair moved to MomsFirst from the Cleveland Transformation Alliance, which tracks school quality and helps families choose the right school for each child.
As Fair sees it, the work at MomsFirst is similar: She is helping people make connections.
“You know, every parent says, ‘I really want to send my child to a good school,’ but there are obstacles. ‘I really want to have a healthy pregnancy,’ but there are obstacles,” Fair told Signal Cleveland. “Sometimes people need a little hand-holding.”
And that is what MomsFirst does. Fair said community organizations and healthcare providers refer clients to MomsFirst. Then, the program assigns community health workers to meet with moms and dads while they are expecting and with parents and their babies up to 18 months old.
Community health workers visit families and offer support
The community health workers are affiliated with Merrick House, Friendly Inn Settlement and West Side Community House. The health workers visit families at home, and talk with clients about prenatal care and offer postpartum support. In 2023, MomsFirst community health workers served 677 participants and their families, according to the Cleveland Department of Public Health, which oversees the program.
MomsFirst supports moms and dads
Fair said MomsFirst, which was founded in 1993 to combat infant mortality, supports fathers as well as mothers by providing group education and family-oriented programs. “Dad has to thrive to provide support,” Fair said.
At the Dec. 2 Cleveland City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, Fair got a warm welcome and praise for her previous work at the Transformation Alliance and, before that, at Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
Council Member Danny Kelly said he worked at CMSD with Fair, whom he calls “Lady Khadijah.” “These are the types of heroes and heroines we need here bringing things forward,” Kelly said.
The MomsFirst program has a budget of about $435,000 for 2025.
MomsFirst’s focus on babies and, as Fair pointed out, on overall social determinants of health has never been more important. In 2022, Ohio’s overall infant mortality rate was 7.1 per 1,000 births. Black babies died 2.4 more times often than white babies.
Fair, a Collinwood resident, is a mother herself, to 8-year-old Khalil. She is also the author of two colorful children’s books featuring a main character with the same name. The fictional Khalil and his friends live in a town called OHVille.
While attending Glenville High School, Fair was a cheerleader, and she speaks fondly of “what I call a sport.”
“We really supported each other,” she said of her teammates.That’s the sort of support MomsFirst provides to parents and babies in Cleveland. “We do better working together.”
To reach MomsFirst, go to https://momsfirst.org or call (216) 664-4194.
