Maternal Health Equity
Spreading information and awareness about diverse birth options to promote safe and liberated birth for all.
Objective
Through community conversations, we are creating a groundswell of support for diverse maternal health services, while aligning local birth options with community values and priorities.
About
Through a partnership with the New Commonwealth Fund, we are co-creating community-driven solutions to improve Boston’s maternal healthcare infrastructure.
Maternal health services such as birth centers, doulas, and midwifery care are effective at reducing persistent racial inequities in maternal health outcomes, yet are not well understood or accessed by those who may need them most.
We are partnering with key community stakeholders to co-create community-responsive Maternal Health Conversations, which seek to increase access to diverse birth options and to build bridges between the touchpoints of Boston’s maternal health ecosystem.
I didn’t know I would have the strength and courage to change [my birth] story and generational curses.
Kayla, Maternal Health Conversation participant
Partners
The Work in Action
Partner with local organizations and businesses to co-design community-responsive and culturally aligned conversations on maternal health equity.
Hire and train community members to co-facilitate conversations exploring participant birth stories/stories of origin, lifting up community-based mental models informing ecosystem improvements promoting equitable maternal healthcare.
Engage diverse audiences in collective visioning about safe and liberated birth via creative writing, visual arts, music, role playing, and an exploration of up-to-date maternal health data.
Impact
65
Community member participants across 6 implementation sites
20
Community members trained as convo co-facilitators
75%
of partners reported that their participation impacted their knowledge of, and capacity to improve maternal health
