South Dakota’s 2018 Mother of the Year, Jenny Gubbels, is using her maternal energy to move mountains in her state. As a mother, professor and published author, she has taken on an issue generations in the making. Jenny received a Golden Rule Grant in 2018 to fund a talking circle initiative for the Native American Pregnant Mothers Project.
In Jenny’s own words:
“Our purpose is to understand the stressors that Native mothers experience on the Cheyenne River Reservation. By talking to the mothers themselves and women elders about stressors in their lives, and how they have overcome obstacles, we hope to understand what makes Native women resilient. After gathering this information, we will be able to design an intervention that will help to cultivate resilience in Native mothers that will lead to healthier mothers and babies. Because we know that stress in a pregnant mother can affect her child as well as her children’s children and beyond for several generations, providing healthy environment for Native mothers will hopefully be one aspect to improving the health and welfare of Native people in South Dakota for generations to come.”
Native American Pregnant Mothers Project is one of the eight non-profit initiatives that received a Golden Rule Grant this year. You can also support more initiatives like Native American Pregnant Mothers Project by making a charitable contribution to the Golden Rule Grant Fund below.
