About BMC

What We Do

Our mission is to improve health outcomes for Black birthing individuals, by actively addressing disparities in maternal and infant health that have disproportionately affected our community. We aim to revolutionize midwifery models of care, by increasing the racial diversity of Community Midwives to combat obstetric racism, and dismantle institutionalized birth practices.

Black/African-American mothers express greater interest in having planned home births than any other racial/ethnic group in the United States (see: the Listening to Mothers Surveys from 2013 and the California-specific iteration from 2018). And yet, Black mothers are significantly less likely than white women to have access to planned homebirth.

Much of this is attributable to the fact that the majority (over two-thirds) of planned homebirths were paid for out of pocket in the United States from the years 2004-2017. For comparison, only 3% of hospital births in the United States are self-paid. Because Black women are more often dependent on Medicaid or limited private insurance, they are deprived of access to planned homebirths even though the third-party expenditures are almost always lower than for hospital deliveries and controlled studies demonstrate superior maternal outcomes with no negative effect on neonatal outcomes.

Our Three Pillars

Deinstitutionalize Reproductive Health Practices

Facility-Centered care is not patient-centered care

Invest in Community Midwifery

A midwife in every neighborhood would provide better birth and health outcomes

Invest/Support Black Midwives

Facility-Centered care is not patient-centered care

We strive to lead a transformative change in maternal and infant health outcomes for Black birthing individuals by revolutionizing midwifery models of care, fostering diversity in the midwifery workforce, and dismantling institutionalized birth practices.

Our Mission

Black Midwifery Collectives mission is to improve health outcomes for Black birthing individuals, by actively addressing disparities in maternal and infant health that have disproportionately affected our community. We aim to amplify midwifery models of care throughout the world, increase the racial diversity of Community Midwives, combat obstetric racism, and dismantle institutionalized birth practices.

We aim to lead a transformative change in maternal and infant health outcomes for Black birthing individuals by revolutionizing midwifery models of care, fostering diversity in the midwifery workforce, and dismantling institutionalized birth practices.

We envision a world where every birthing individual has equitable access to safe, respectful, and culturally sensitive maternity care, resulting in positive maternal and infant health outcomes.

Ultimately, we want a midwife in every neighborhood around the world!