Feeding the Future
parked by the CSUN lactation education course she was taking as an undergrad, Jocceline Hernandez asked about her own mother’s breastfeeding experience. Nutrition experts recommend breastfeeding as the optimal source of nutrition to support an infant’s growth and development. But Hernandez’s mother said she hadn’t received much support before delivery nor later as a working parent.
“That really formed that kind of aha moment, the light bulb went off, where I thought to myself, ‘My mother experienced this, who’s to say how many other individuals and families experience a similar situation to that,’” said Hernandez ’11, M.S. ’14 (Family and Consumer Sciences – Nutrition and Dietetics). “Not only did it make me want to pursue the lactation program, but I discovered [CSUN was] the right place where I could make a difference in my community.”
Hernandez, a lactation consultant and a nutrition public health professional for over 10 years, has spent her career helping community members learn about the health benefits of breastfeeding for both infants and mothers. She started by teaching families how to breastfeed and preparing them for their breastfeeding journey — what to do when you get home from the hospital or if you must go back to work, and how to eventually introduce nutritious complementary foods. Later, she scaled up this work, training health care professionals in Los Angeles County. She earned an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant certification (IBCLC) and now works for the California Department of Public Health, promoting lactation support in the workplace, advancing policies to support in-hospital breastfeeding and studying breastfeeding disparities among different groups.
The program’s impact is expanding, thanks to a new gift from longtime CSUN donors and alumni Harriet and Harvey Bookstein. Their matching gift of up to $500,000 — paired with a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture — enables the university to establish a new Lactation Counselor Pathway Program. The new program prepares students for the Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice (ALPP) National Certified Lactation Counselor exam, expanding their career options. This adds to CSUN’s lactation education offerings, which include Certificated Prenatal Lactation Educator Training for students and community professionals and a minor in human lactation.
Harvey Bookstein ’70 (Business Administration), Hon.D. ’16, an accounting industry leader, and Harriet Bookstein, a successful business manager, have championed programs across the university, including the accounting and taxation programs and the Bookstein Real Estate Center in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. Harvey Bookstein said he trusted Efrat’s work in training healthcare workers to bring critical parenting information to the community.
“No one teaches you how to be a parent,” said Bookstein, a proud father and grandfather. “Feeding your baby properly is obviously a very significant issue to deal with, to give the child the best chance for good health in the future.”
The Booksteins’ CSUN support includes volunteering for lectures and student mentorship, making connections with community partners and helping think through the most impactful ways to help students. Harvey Bookstein recalled speaking at a commencement ceremony a few years ago and being moved by the students he talked to.
“They had real excitement, but I think they earned that excitement,” he said. “They really had to work for it. And I think this school gives them the ability to work hard, but have good backup behind them — professors or other students — to help them be as successful as you possibly can be.”
Mechelle Best, dean of the College of Health and Human Development, said gifts from individuals as respected as the Booksteins resonate throughout the community.
“When they lend support to an institution like ours, it really says to the rest of the world that there’s something good, valuable, special about CSUN,” Best said. “They have been very, very strong supporters of CSUN for a very long time, and it’s important for us to have that type of support.”
The Booksteins’ gift and USDA grant enable CSUN’s lactation program to help students develop critical lactation competencies needed to support breastfeeding families. A lactation professional must verify these competencies before students can take the ALPP National Certified Lactation Counselor exam. The Booksteins’ gift and the grant also pay for students’ exam registration fee and provide stipends and other career development opportunities.
“Breastfeeding is critical to infant health, yet many parents face barriers to breastfeeding, including a lack of support from trained professionals,” Efrat said. “The Booksteins are making a difference in our community’s health by enabling CSUN to train more work-ready lactation professionals.”