Community members helped families select the items that they wanted and put each basket together. A total of 50 Baby baskets were given to families: 24 through NEWC, 21 through the Indigenous Doulas prototype, and 5 through the Health and Wellness prototype. Several items that weren’t on the initial Baby Basket list were given to families at their request, including a high chair, a baby rocker, a baby swing, a baby monitor, and a crib mattress.
We partnered with the North End Women’s Centre (NEWC) to create and share the Baby Basket prototype. Baskets included supportive items such as a star blanket and diapers, as well as information on topics such as: safe sleep, how and where to get benefits, and breastfeeding.
We hosted a co-creation session that gathered people together from healthcare, education, government, community, and philanthropy, to help design the Baby Basket.
We engaged a broader audience to help design the Baby Basket, including researching similar work and meetings with:
In our earliest conversations with community, the Baby Basket (inspired by the Finnish Baby Box) was named as a priority to be developed through the prototyping process. Our consultations shifted the focus away from a safe sleep box and towards an opportunity to build supportive relationships, reduce stress, and provide information.
