HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR EXPECTANT MOTHER TO END BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK 2025

Black Maternal Health Week 2025 may be over, but the ongoing fight to ensure Black women and their children have the chance to live healthy, fulfilling lives continues with unwavering urgency. Below are a five helpful resources for expectant mothers to support every mother’s perinatal and postpartum journeys.

Black Mamas Matter Alliance

The Black Mamas Matter Alliance’s (BMMA) mission, per their official website, states that it “is a Black women-led cross-sectoral alliance that centers Black mamas and birthing people to advocate, drive research, build power, and shift culture for Black maternal health, rights, and justice.” BMMA founded Black Maternal Health Week in alignment with the National Minority Health Month and the International Day for Maternal Health and Rights.

SisterSong

Founded in 1997, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, is comprised of 16 organizations of women of color from four mini-communities that are made up of Native American, African American, Latina, and Asian American women. According to the SisterSong official website, these women “recognized that we have the right and responsibility to represent ourselves and our communities, and the equally compelling need to advance the perspectives and needs of women of color.”

The SisterSong mission is to “build an effective network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities.”

Ancient Song Doula Services

Doulas are trained professionals who provide physical, emotional, and informational support to individuals before, during, and shortly after childbirth. Unlike doctors or midwives, doulas don’t perform medical tasks, instead, they focus on helping the birthing person feel safe, informed, and empowered throughout the process.

In that vein, the Ancient Song Doula Services’s mission is “to ensure that all pregnant, postpartum, and parenting people of color have access to high-quality, holistic doula care and services regardless of their ability to pay.”

Commonsense Childbirth

Commonsense Childbirth has been providing safety, equity, and quality in maternity care since 2003. The mission of Commonsense Childbirth is to “We eradicate racial disparities in perinatal health by restoring deeply rooted networks of care and support” with the vision of “inspiring change that protects human dignity.”

Mamatoto Village

The mission of Mamatoto Village is “to [serve] Black women through the creation of career pathways in maternal health; and providing accessible perinatal support services designed to equip women with the necessary tools to make the most informed decisions in their maternity care, parenting, and lives.”

“At Mamatoto Village, we are deeply committed to transforming Black maternal health by improving birth outcomes through a holistic, community-centric model of care. Our programming is focused not just on the instance of pregnancy but on the whole person — addressing the social determinants of health that significantly influence pregnancy, birth, and parenting experiences,” Aza Nedhari, co-founder of Mamatoto Village told Essence Magazine in a recent interview.  

She continued, “What truly sets us apart is that our team reflects the community we serve. This lived experience allows us to deliver services in a culturally humble and affirming way, centering the voices, needs, and lived realities of the individuals and families we support.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts. Remember, it truly takes a village and sharing resources can continue to make the community stronger and healthier for a better tomorrow.