In its 40th year, the national birth equity organization extends its community-based model into global health policy; Reyes will attend the 15th Anniversary ROSE and ROBE Breastfeeding & Birth Justice Summit in New Orleans, August 26 through 29

CHICAGO, Aug. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — HealthConnect One (HC One), the national leader in community-based birth equity, today announced that Brenda Reyes, RN, CLC, has been named Senior Advisor for Global Maternal & Child Health Policy. In the newly created role, Reyes will serve as HC One’s senior external voice in the rooms where maternal and child health policy is made, from Congressional offices and federal forums to the health ministries and diplomatic venues of a new international corridor spanning Mexico, the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, Central America, and South America.

The appointment marks a full-circle moment in HC One’s 40th anniversary year. The organization’s community-based doula and breastfeeding peer counselor model was born from the wisdom of communities that resource-rich systems overlooked. Four decades and 36 states later, that model is returning to its roots: governments, ministries, and civil society organizations across the Americas are seeking partners who understand how community-based care is built, sustained, and integrated into national health systems.

Reyes brings more than 2 decades of maternal and child health leadership to the role, including deep expertise in breastfeeding and lactation policy, coalition building at the national level, and the lived cultural fluency that health diplomacy requires. She will architect HC One’s international country engagement roadmap, conduct health diplomacy with legislators, ministries, and diplomats, and continue carrying the organization’s policy voice in federal and Congressional engagement.

“Brenda has spent her career building the relationships and the credibility that make this next chapter possible,” said Dr. Twylla Dillion, President and CEO of HealthConnect One. “Communities across the Americas are asking for what community-based birthwork knows how to do. Brenda carries both the policy fluency and the cultural fluency to answer, and this role puts her fully at those tables on our behalf.”

“For 40 years, HC One has proven that the people closest to families are the experts in what families need,” said Reyes. “I am honored to carry that truth into new rooms, from Washington to the capitals of the hemisphere, and to help build a future where every birthing person, in every country, is surrounded by community-based care.”

Reyes’s first engagement in the new role comes during Black Breastfeeding Week, when she attends the 15th Anniversary Breastfeeding & Birth Justice Summit hosted by Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE) and Reaching Our Brothers Everywhere (ROBE), held August 26 through 29, 2026 in New Orleans. This year’s summit, themed “The 92%: Breastfeeding, Power & Birth Justice,” convenes Black lactation support providers, birth workers, clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and community partners from across the country.

HC One’s presence at the summit reflects the organization’s longstanding commitment to breastfeeding equity and its partnership with the national community of Black birth workers and lactation professionals. Attendees and media interested in connecting with Reyes during the summit may reach out through the contact below.

About HealthConnect One National birth equity nonprofit founded 1986, 36 states, 175 sites including D.C. and two international sites (Ghana and Puerto Rico). Advances community-based doula workforce development, DoulaREADI™ hospital integration, and national policy advocacy. 75% of states actively reimbursing or implementing Medicaid doula reimbursement. Every Birth. Every Family. Every Community. healthconnectone.org

Media Contact:  Media@HealthConnectOne.org 

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SOURCE HealthConnect One