United Way and partners host Hattiesburg Community Baby Shower April 14

The annual Community Baby Shower is built less like a party than a service hub. United Way of Southeast Mississippi will join the Hattiesburg Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Mississippi State University Extension Service, the Mississippi State Department of Health and Southeast Mississippi Rural Health Initiative for the April 14 event at the Jackie Dole Sherrill Community Center in downtown Hattiesburg, running from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

That setup matters because the event is designed to do several jobs at once. United Way says it works to connect people with needs to the resources available to meet those needs across Southeast Mississippi, and this baby shower fits that mission closely. MSU Extension brings research-based information and family, health and wellness outreach. MSDH adds public-health reach. SeMRHI, a network of 17 community health centers, brings a primary-care and preventive-care footprint that reaches people regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. The Delta Sigma Theta chapter adds another local bridge to families who may need practical support, not just an invitation to show up.

The venue is part of the story, too. Jackie Dole Sherrill Community Center is not a makeshift meeting room tucked away on the edge of town. It sits in the heart of downtown Hattiesburg, across from City Hall, with a 5,000-square-foot auditorium, two conference rooms, a dining and meeting room, and a full-service kitchen. That kind of space gives organizers room to hand out supplies, offer health information and connect parents with services without squeezing everything into one table and one hallway.

The need behind the event is serious. CDC statistics put Mississippi’s infant mortality rate at 8.94 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 5.6 deaths per 1,000 live births nationally in 2022. More recent reporting on Mississippi Department of Health data put the state’s 2024 rate at 9.7 per 1,000 live births, the highest in more than a decade, and state officials later declared a public health emergency over rising infant deaths. In that context, the baby shower looks like infrastructure, not pageantry: a place where education, referrals and supplies meet before a crisis does.

The format has been building for years. In 2022, United Way of South Mississippi and Memorial Health System hosted a community baby shower in Stone County for pregnant women and parents of children 9 months old and under, and MSDH handed each mother a brand-new car seat. Another Hattiesburg baby shower that year brought together Forrest General Hospital, United Way of Southeast Mississippi and MSDH. SeMRHI has also hosted drive-thru community baby showers before. The point is repetition. This is what a dependable support system looks like when local partners keep showing up.