The Birthing Place Foundation (TBPF) empowers communities with culturally responsive reproductive, perinatal, and family wellness education resources to families with unmet reproductive healthcare needs in New York City and across New York State.
TBPF initiatives include:
- Bringing reproductive health and wellness events to communities with Womb Bus, our mobile wellness hub.
- Partnering with community-based providers to send doulas and lactation advisors to new parents’ homes to support their breast-feeding and mental health.
- Collaborating with New York Presbyterian Hospital Morris Heights Community Center to provide doula-led prenatal education in English, Spanish and French.
- Mentoring the next generation of BIPOC birth professionals.
- Training youth to become peer educators in a supportive network where youth feel safe discussing reproductive health topics.
- Advocating for free-standing birth centers, especially in communities of color, as an evidence-based alternative for low-risk pregnancies.
- Incubating services and programs that support the health and well-being of BIPOC communities as they give birth and nurture new families.
History
The Birthing Place was founded in 2020 in response to the maternal healthcare crisis for BIPOC families in New York City. It initiated multilingual perinatal classes, launched Womb Bus in 2022, and established Maryam Health + Wellness clinic in 2024. Its focus is providing culturally responsive education and health care that centers the whole person within their community.
The Birthing Place Foundation was formalized as a 501(c)3 in August of 2024. It builds on The Birthing Place’s mission by engaging in community outreach, empowerment, and advocacy. Check out the community partnerships and programs TBPF intends to uplift and support!
CBC’s Together Mentorship
TOGETHER, A BIPOC DOULA MENTORSHIP PROGRAM provides a unique opportunity for trained birth doulas who wish to expand their work in a very special field. Leaders in the doula profession, founders of collectives, and impactful organizations came together as “Conscious Birth Collective” to create this 24-week program. Beginning a 5th Cohort of birthworkers in Spring 2024, participants work with a committed group of BIPOC doula-mentors, engage in dynamic workshops, receive 1:1 mentorship, connect with a community of like-minded peers, and receive work and apprenticeship opportunities, while supporting families and growing their professional networks!
Youth UpLifting Optimal Health (YULOH)
Through cooperative, project-based learning, YULOH addresses the need of young people in our community for comprehensive reproductive health education and relationship guidance. They develop tools to make informed decisions about their bodies and relationships while training to serve as peer educators. Participants meet regularly for workshops on topics like consent, family planning, symptoms/treatment/prevention of STDs, and breaking unhealthy family cycles. YULOH fosters a supportive network where youth feel safe discussing reproductive health issues openly with program facilitators. They grow in knowledge and confidence, and join community outreach events throughout the Bronx. Together we change the narrative, reduce stigmas related to reproductive health, increase access to quality health education, and enrich our community.
Familia Flourish
Familia Flourish: Breastfeeding and Beyond (FFBB), launched by The Birthing Place Foundation in partnership with Doulas en Español, addresses postpartum mood disorders (PMDs) among communities of color in NYC. Starting mid-September 2024 at Maryam Reproductive Health + Wellness, the program includes:
Integrated Support Services: Providing individual and group lactation support sessions for families.
Professional Development: Offering training and apprenticeships for BIPOC postpartum doulas and lactation consultants.
Community Engagement: Leveraging Maryam's BIPOC-led clinic to enhance accessibility of culturally responsive perinatal healthcare services.
Impact Focus: Aiming to raise awareness of PMDs, improve mental health outcomes for postpartum parents, and empower BIPOC birth professionals through education and career opportunities.
Expanded Childbirth Education
We offer great classes, and community feedback led us to create five relevant, subject-specific classes to add to our comprehensive childbirth education, extending evidence-based info on inductions, epidurals, C-section recovery, strategies for labor, and advocacy. We're conducting research to learn its impact, and we're working on increasing language access. Most classes are also taught for Spanish speakers, and we will soon expand to offer perinatal educational content for French and Creole speakers.
The Bronx Doula Access Project
Our ongoing work in partnership with The Bronx Health Link, providing three components of “doula access” to our community through doula-led childbirth education, birth doulas, and postpartum doulas, engaging local BIPOC-led doula collectives to serve the Bronx community. The Birthing Place, Conscious BIrth Collective, Ashe Birthing Services, Bx (Re)Birth, and Doulas en Español each bring unique and valued contributions to TBHL’s flagship program, as we increase doula access throughout the Bronx!
Currently at capacity for birth and postpartum doulas, but we encourage you to learn more.
Irth
Irth (as in Birth, but we dropped the B for bias) helps Black and brown women and birthing people have a more safe and empowered pregnancy and parenting experience by allowing you to see how other parents of color, just like you, experienced care at a doctor or hospital. Then we turn those collective experiences into meaningful data to push for change within health systems. As Irth activates pop-up stations to collect reviews across NYC, our Womb Bus will be an ongoing station to support Irth’s mission and uplift our shared goals!