Breastfeeding Exclusive March 2017 – Colleague Corner: Simran Noor

Simran Noor, Vice President of Policy & Programs at Center for Social Inclusion (CSI), is a key senior level manager providing programmatic leadership through the management and coordination of all program staff, strategy development, program management, organizational networking, alliance building, and relationship management. In her role, Simran leads CSI’s Program team who, in turn, ensure the delivery and impact of CSI’s programs.

Simran is a regular speaker on issues of racial equity—frequently featured at conferences and public meetings. During her time at CSI, Simran has worked directly with local and national advocates across the country including many local communities. Simran has also been a key developer of CSI’s work on first food. CSI has written a report outlining the structural barriers to breastfeeding, titled, “Removing Barriers to Breastfeeding: A Structural Race Analysis of First Food”. In this report, CSI outlines the barriers to breastfeeding that communities of color face, as well as recommend policies and practices to address racial inequity in First Food. In addition, Center for Social Inclusion convenes the National First Food Racial Equity Cohort (http://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org/leadership/national-first-food-racial-equity-cohort), an amazing group of breastfeeding practitioners and advocates. The Cohort has been working to develop their own capacity and lens around the implications of and ties between racial equity and first food. CSI’s hope is that the cohort will to continue to add an important voice to the field and serve as capacity builders and thought partners for organizations and individuals exploring how to approach racial equity in their work around birth and breastfeeding.

Prior to joining the Center for Social Inclusion, Simran served as Program Manager at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation where she worked with the Food, Health & Well-being, Racial Equity, and Civic & Community Engagement portfolios. She also served as Program Assistant at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where she supported the Policy Research and KIDS COUNT teams. Simran holds a dual bachelor’s degree in American Studies and Political Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a dual master’s degree in Public Administration and Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.