One Hundred Intentional Acts of Kindness toward a Pregnant Woman: building reproductive social capital in Los Angeles.

This article describes the development of an innovative community-based program, One Hundred Intentional Acts of Kindness toward a Pregnant Woman (100 Acts), which seeks to increase reproductive social capital for pregnant women in south and central Los Angeles communities. Reproductive social capital includes features such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate optimal reproductive health within a community. 100 Acts was designed and developed by the Healthy African American Families project, using community participatory methods, to increase local community and social network support for pregnant women.

The Healthy African American Families' risk communications initiative: using community partnered participatory research to address preterm birth at the local level.

Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant death for African Americans and is significantly associated with lifelong morbidity. Primary prevention efforts using medical strategies to reduce the rates of preterm birth have been unsuccessful. Using community partnered participatory processes, the Healthy African American Families project in Los Angeles developed a multilevel, risk communications strategy to promote awareness about preterm birth in the local community.