Get involved!
Everyone has something to offer to this effort and collectively, we have the power to create the change we want to see. Join us because the future generation is expecting justice!
Take Action
Explore below to find actions for:
for Black and Pacific Islander Mamas and Families:
We want to center the voices, experiences and solutions of Black and Pacific Islander women and birthing persons in our efforts to ensure that every birth in those communities is healthy. Join us and make your voices heard.
- Learn more about our work.
- Vote! Register to Vote: Californians & Outside CA
- Call or write your elected officials and speak your truth.
- Practice Self-Care and More Self-care. Living through racism takes a toll on us and our families. You are deserving of rest. You are deserving of healing.
- Know your rights around birth and birthing. Here are some resources: Black Birthing Bill of Rights, Respectful Care at Birth, and Birthing People’s Bill of Rights- COVID-19 Edition.
- Join our network of Black and Pacific Islander women, birthing persons and mamas working to make a difference by following us on social media and signing up for our email list.
for Allies:
While no single individual or organization alone can stop the devastating disparities in preterm births, together as a community, we can ensure that every birth is a healthy birth within San Francisco’s Black and Pacific Islander populations by the year 2030.
5 Key Actions:
- Learn more about our work and actively participate in timely coordination of efforts or resources.
- Learn about the history of racism, how it impacts maternal health outcomes and practices for you to become anti-racist.
- Center the voices of Black and Pacific Islander community members. Learn how here.
- Call for laws and policies to reduce disparities and increase opportunities for the communities most impacted.
- Call or write your elected officials and express your support for prioritizing financial opportunities, housing, quality education, justice reform, and doula access for Black and Pacific Islander families.
- Vote! Register to Vote: Californians & Outside CA
- Practice Self-Care & More Self-care. Living through racism and working to dismantle racism takes a toll on all of us and our families. You are deserving of rest. You are deserving of healing.
for decision makers including law enforcement community, medical providers & elected officials:
California recognizes the critical and essential role providers have in addressing pregnancy-related preventable death, severe illnesses, and associated health disparities. The California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act or SB 464, passed onto California law in 2019, requires implicit bias training for perinatal providers involved in services at hospitals and health centers. In addition to implicit bias training, providers and other decision-makers can work at the systemic and organizational level to address institutional racism.
4 Key Actions:
- Think long-term
- Create precise solutions for Black and Pacific Islander women and birthing persons with longevity and sustainability in mind.
- Tackling racism takes time, implement solutions with realistic, feasible, and financially sound frameworks to address preterm birth for Black and Pacific Islander birthing persons for long-term impact.
- Focus on precise impact
- Listen to and believe Black and Pacific Islander women and birthing persons and treat them with respect
- Learn about fears that may impact Black and Pacific Islander pregnant individuals and develop materials and information that address these concerns. Avoid contributing to a culture of fear when developing campaigns to address racial disparities in maternal and infant health.
- Work across agency to address issues of displacement, lack of housing, barriers to receiving public assistance, and eco-justice as primary contributing factors to Black and Pacific Islander preterm birth.
- Address systems change, rather than programmatic or individual change
- Implement policies that ensure automatic basic income stipends for pregnant Black and Pacific Islander women and birthing people, lasting throughout pregnancy and up to 2 years post-partum.
- Implement policies that ensure at least 6 months of fully paid maternal and familial leave.
- Establish Community Accountability Boards for labor and delivery units and birth centers comprised of individuals who have given birth at the facility, birth workers, community members, and staff to provide feedback, communication, and transparency about current practices and progress to improve care.
- Provide, rally for, and distribute reparations
- Ensure and distribute basic income supplements and fully paid maternal and familial leave (See action #3)
- Identify concrete actions to shift power dynamics within organizations by honestly assessing operations, policies, means of doing business, and community impacts.
- Develop hiring policies that ensure Black and Pacific Islander families have access to culturally concordant care.
- Financially support organizations and implement policies that provide paid doulas to Black and Pacific Islander birthing people.