Community Health and Social Services (CHASS) Center Inc. in southwest Detroit has received a $150,000 gift from Livonia-based Schostak Brothers & Co. to launch a community doula (trained companion) program at CHASS Center.

The gift provides the funding needed to integrate the CHASS Center Community Based Doula Program as part as of its prenatal care services to bolster positive maternal physical and emotional health outcomes in southwest Detroit. The gift, a part of Schostak’s 100th Anniversary Community Giving Campaign.

“We are incredibly grateful for the generous support of Schostak Brothers & Co. in making it possible to bring our doula program back to CHASS Center,” says Dr. Felix M. Valbuena Jr. “With a full-time staff of three doulas, our program will provide support services for to up to 60 patients per year. The integration of the doulas into our health care team, coupled with the delivery of culturally and linguistically competent maternity care, will result in increased pre and postnatal visit rates and help to decrease pregnancy-related complications in our community.”

The doulas will work closely with medical providers and collaborate with other community health workers, breastfeeding educators, registered dietitians, and behavioral health staff at CHASS Center to provide comprehensive resources for prenatal and postnatal health and wellness support. The program also will support infant health by educating new moms on infant feeding and connect families to CHASS Center as their medical home for preventive screenings and immunizations.

Moms-to-be will be referred to Labor and Delivery at Henry Ford Health Main Campus. CHASS Center is partnered with HFH Obstetrics for support, including Labor and Delivery for approximately 400 women annually. Additionally, the community-based doulas will support coordination of care, including transportation to CHASS Center and HFH Main Campus. The projected start date for the doula program is this fall.

In June, Schostak Brothers & Co. announced it will mark the company’s 100th anniversary with a community giving campaign to distribute $1 million across impactful Detroit-based nonprofit organizations. Selected from a range of nonprofit sectors including neighborhoods, workforce development, education, health, and entrepreneurship, the goal of the initiative was to select organizations based on their work in Detroit, the city where the company was founded a century ago.

The gift recipients were selected through an extensive selection process involving Schostak employees, with the intent to help the charities complete a current project or start a new phase while shining a light on each organization’s efforts to reach other potential donors. Additional funding recipients will be announced throughout Schostak’s anniversary year, in coordination with each organization’s projects and initiatives.

The now fourth generation, family-based company has included development, acquisitions, and leasing of retail, office, industrial, residential, and mixed-use projects — both urban and suburban. Schostak’s current activities include joint ventures, build to suit projects, mixed use developments, and a variety of necessity-based retail and open air centers in 17 states. The company’s TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants portfolio includes nearly 170 restaurants composed of Applebee’s, Del Tacos, MOD Pizzas, Olga’s Kitchens, and Wendy’s.

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