March Of Dimes Women Of Achievement Event Is May 7 In Malvern

Meet March Of Dimes Executive Director Allison Lang

by Melissa Jacobs

March Of Dimes has released its annual report card on maternal-infant care and the Philadelphia region is barely making the grade. Chester County’s score worsened to a B+, Montgomery County’s sunk to a B-, Delaware County remained a C+ and Philadelphia County got a D-. Overall, the state received a C+.

The scores are based on infant mortality, preterm births, general health of mothers and their physical environment, mental health, substance abuse and socioeconomic determinants like nutrition and access to prenatal healthcare. “We are in a maternal and infant care crisis,” says Allison Lang, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia March Of Dimes. “This issue is not going away and it’s not getting better.”

Statistics are more dire in communities of color. In Pennsylvania, the infant mortality rate of Black babies is 2 times higher than among other groups and the preterm birth rate is 1.5 times higher. “That points to the  healthcare inequities in our region,” Lang says, “and that is what March Of Dimes is working to improve.”

Founded in 1938, March Of Dimes is one of the nation’s oldest organizations dedicated to the health of infants and mothers. Its original mission led to the polio vaccine in 1955, after which March Of Dimes addressed ways to prevent birth defects. Now, the nonprofit is tackling the national, systemic issue of maternal healthcare disparities in communities of color. “We can change this,” Lang states. “If we come together as women, men, moms and dads, we can change this.”

Lang started her job in June 2021, a precarious time for March Of Dimes – and the world. COVID-19’s various strains were creating havoc and March Of Dimes, like many other nonprofits, suffered from a lack of donations. But people didn’t stop having babies.

In fact there was a pandemic baby boom. At the same time, healthcare  disparities were exacerbated when skyrocketing unemployment left people without health insurance and those who had it were reluctant to go to their health care providers. People skipped all kinds of healthcare, including prenatal care.

Those challenges didn’t deter Lang from taking the job as executive director. “I’m a mom of two and I didn’t have issues with either of my pregnancies,” she said. “Not everyone in our region has that experience. If I can dedicate my work to changing that, it gives me a reason to get up every morning.”

Lang, whose background includes being senior director for the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women and marketing jobs at Rue La La and Philadelphia Magazine, became a change agent for March Of Dimes’ Greater Philadelphia chapter. “We need to reach moms where they are and in ways that fuel connections,” she says.

Events, some of which had been around for 20 or even 30 years, were one of the first things that Lang overhauled. The March of Dimes’ Signature Chefs event, a standard “grazing” reception with food samples from 15-30 chefs, was transformed into an exclusive, sit-down dinner with a tasting menu created by 4-5 of Philadelphia best-known chefs. Underlying the culinary experience is the March Of Dimes’ mission “caring, honoring, uniting and connecting parents to support one another, advocating for our rights and finding solutions to healthcare inequities,” Lang says.

That message is the clarion call of the organization’s upcoming May event.  Called “Salute To Chester County” for the 33 years it had been running, Lang relaunched it in 2023 as the Greater Philadelphia Women Of Achievement. The new, dynamic event honors women who center their professional or volunteer work around health equity, and moms and babies. It features a panel discussion with honorees led by a “mission mom” who has benefited from the March Of Dimes’ programs.

Lang is also taking her mission to Harrisburg to lobby for more paid family leave, doula reimbursement, midwifery expansion, funding for maternal mental health initiatives and a perinatal quality collaborative, among other things, like NICU family support programs. “March Of Dimes is in NICUs bridging the communication and emotional gaps between the NICU staff and families of infants,” Lang says. “Those families are our families.”

In March 2024, Lang had her first in-person trip to Harrisburg to advocate for March Of Dimes’ initiatives. Twenty staff members and volunteers manned an information table in the Capitol Rotunda while Lang and her Pittsburgh counterpart met with state legislators. In their very first meeting, a state senator’s aide shared that his second child had been in a NICU and it opened his eyes to the work done there.

Lang also spotted a photo prominently displayed in the aide’s office. “He shared that the child was a constituent’s baby who died shortly after being born with a congenital heart defect,” Lang says. “They had the baby’s photo hanging to remind themselves of the importance of maternal and fetal health.”

That’s Lang’s mindset. “I think about their stories and how changing and passing these bills can impact them and their children,” she says. “That mom, dad, aunt, uncle or grandparent could have a different outcome for their baby. That’s who we advocate for. That’s why I do what I do.”

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Main Line Tonight is honored to be the digital media sponsor of the March Of Dimes Greater Philadelphia Salute To Women Of Achievement on May 7 in Malvern. Read about the event and its honorees here.

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