Pregnancy help centers founded to serve in areas with the most need were celebrated recently at Heartbeat International’s Annual Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Life Launch Grant is a program of Heartbeat International that aids start-up pregnancy help centers in underserved communities, helping the fledgling centers to open their doors and advance pregnancy help in areas in need in the U.S. The grant includes training, resources, and other benefits for new centers.
Since its beginning in 2018 the Life Launch Grant has made historic strides in fostering pregnancy help.
As of 2024, 78% of the program’s recipients were located in U.S. counties that had previously gone without pregnancy help, meaning that because of the Life Launch Grant program more than 1.5 million people in those areas came to have access to pregnancy help services where they did not before (based on 2021 Census data). This made unprecedented life-affirming advocacy available in these communities.
Currently, a total of 39 Life Launch centers operate in 22 States and one international country (Australia).
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Heartbeat International is the largest network of pregnancy help in the U.S. and internationally. Its Life Launch Grant program demonstrates the positive impact that pregnancy help has on the lives of women and families, as the centers in the program are assisted in becoming viable and effectively serving people in need.
Life Launch center personnel in attendance at the Heartbeat Conference gathered to network, share successes, and celebrate milestones for their centers.
“Conference is always a wonderful opportunity for our Life Launch centers to gather together,” said Sara Dominguez, Affiliate Services Specialist for Heartbeat, “not only for networking purposes, but also for fellowship with fellow startup pregnancy help organizations.”
“It is always a joy to be able to celebrate the earliest milestones these life-affirming organizations have reached,” said Dominguez, who shepherds and mentors the centers through the program in her role.
Tweet This: Since its beginning in 2018 the Life Launch Grant has made historic strides in fostering pregnancy help.
Nine centers were present for the Life Launch gathering in Utah. The centers shared challenges and triumphs, building connections and camaraderie.
Two centers were celebrated as they reached their grant milestones and were advanced from the program. Some centers shared that they are on track to become medical facilities while another is adding sexual risk avoidance programming. Another center had obtained a mobile unit and had begun to have a presence in local schools. Still another center had to put going medical on hold for the time being but was still “serving the community like crazy.” Another center had added a mobile unit and was seeing “amazing” results in serving people. A different center reported having a lot of success stories and was looking to add more employees and volunteers. The center was working with the local court system for referral of clients mandated to take parenting classes.
“This kind of network is so unique and it's so precious,” Dominguez told the Life Launch center personnel. “I have the privilege that I get to talk to each of you individually, but I know that being able to make these connections is very meaningful.”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
