Black Birth Equity Fund: Action for Black Maternal Health

Black expectant mothers and birthing individuals have the right to superior care at every step of their pregnancy and birth journey. Yet across the US, racial disparities in maternal health are contributing to the Maternal Care Gap – meaning many Black moms and birthing individuals aren’t receiving the care they deserve.

As part of our commitment to help close the gap in care and improve health outcomes – for Black expectant mothers, birthing individuals, and their babies – we have started the Black Birth Equity Fund. We hope to help open up access to doula services as lifesaving care. If you’re an expectant Black mom or birthing individual, or want to apply for a Black birthing person in your life, apply for a grant.

Apply for our grant

On our mission to catalyze systemic change, we’re also collaborating with leading advocacy groups like Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA). Together, we can advance superior care – with and for Black moms and birthing people.

Did you know

Black women are 3-5x more likely to die of pregnancy related causes than white women¹
60% (or more) of pregnancy related deaths could have been prevented ²
Black babies are 2x more likely to die a premature death compared to white babies³

Today, the US has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the developing world. Black women are more likely than White, Asian or Latina women to die from pregnancy-related complications, no matter their income or education level. There are so many factors that come into play, but one reason is that a number of Black moms and birthing individuals do not have the same access to or quality of care. And the heartbreaking truth? Many of these deaths could’ve been prevented.

That’s why doulas are so important – to help close the Black maternal care gap, and in turn help to reduce Black maternal mortality. A birth doula is trained to give physical, spiritual, and emotional support during the birthing process. And after birth, a postpartum doula continues this non-medical support. A certified doula is a communicator: from helping moms and birthing individuals express any concerns or feelings to flagging conditions that might usually go unchecked in a child birthing situation. This is where a doula is so vital for Black moms and birthing individuals – making sure no issue goes unnoticed. The benefits of a doula can be endless, and lifesaving.

Looking for help in navigating your perinatal journey?

Seeking Doula Care and the Black Doula Directory

To help provide further access to qualified doulas during the birthing journey, we have partnered with Sista Midwife Productions, a national birth advocacy, training and consulting agency to launch a new Black Doula Directory of over 1,000 doulas nationwide. Visit the Black Doula Directory, powered by Baby Dove and Sista Midwife Productions, created for Black birthing families to identify and connect with Black doulas across the country.

If you are a Black expectant mom or a Black doula looking to be a part, visit the Black Doula Directory here.

Visit the Black Doula Directory

How the Black Birth Equity Fund is helping close the Maternal Care Gap

Our fund is designed to give hundreds of Black expectant mothers and birthing individuals access to lifesaving support through doula services. It’s an initial step in our efforts to close the Maternal Care Gap. To kickstart our efforts, we initially pledged $250K USD in 2021, and are now proud that we have committed over $650K USD to date into the Black Birth Equity Fund.

We’re honored to partner with leading advocates such as the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) to help progress superior care and ignite more structural change. The Black women-led organization is on a mission to shift culture around Black maternal health, rights, and justice for the better.

Get Involved

Follow @BabyDoveCare and visit to apply for our grant if you are a Black expectant mom or birthing individual. And if you have baby showers coming up, choose our gift set to care for your new mom and their little one, and support Black maternal health across the US.

Sources

1. Petersen EE, Davis NL, Goodman D, et al. Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pregnancy-Related Deaths — United States, 2007–2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:762–765. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6835a3external icon

2. Gruber, K. J., Cupito, S. H., & Dobson, C. F. (2013). Impact of doulas on healthy birth outcomes. The Journal of Perinatal Education. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647727/

3. IBID

The inspiring stories of Baby Dove’s Black Birth Equity Fund grant recipients and their doulas

“Whether a birthing person decides to have a hospital birth or home birth, or a birth at a birthing center like I did, having the extra support of a doula who looks like you and the support of the people around you, makes all the difference.” – Amin

Baby Dove Fund Recipient Cameron Robinson

“During postpartum, my doula made sure that we were prepared upon leaving the hospital and explained all my options. She went above and beyond by even providing me with postpartum Black Motherhood positive affirmation cards to practice during my postpartum experience when times may be the toughest.” – Cameron

Baby Dove Fund Recipient Caroline Aiyelabowo

“I really want to be able to help all Black women find equity especially in the maternal realm, and especially with their pregnancies because there is a lot of bias. I know some people don’t believe that it exists. But I want to bring light to that and help change the perception of our experience.” – Caroline

“As new parents, we found a doula that was present right after birth, who provided support for about a month of visits, and was also able to give us rest and care to help us sleep through the night. The much-needed rest was very helpful for me and my miracle baby.” – Jamila

Baby Dove Fund Recipient Kennedy Singleton

“I had my baby a week into starting school, so there was a lot going on at once. I used the funds to help support me as I adjusted to being a single mother and college student. The funds helped me provide for myself as I healed from the pregnancy.” – Kennedy

Baby Dove Fund Recipient Khadijah Robinson

“I know that we all have a set plan in our heads for birth and our babies care after birth, but initially I didn’t consider postpartum care for myself. I didn’t know how much help and guidance I would need beyond birthing. From the beginning I was so set on having a midwife and homebirth. It didn’t happen that way, but it happened how it needed to happen. So, my advice is to be open-minded and give yourself loving grace if a situation arises that wasn’t planned. Don’t think that you failed or that your birthing experience is any less significant if things take an opposite turn.” – Khadijah

Baby Dove Fund Recipient Marissa Gilbert

“When I came across the Black Birth Equity Fund, I was immediately motivated to apply, just knowing how doulas can have such a positive impact on improving the birthing journey and the Black mother mortality rate in general. It was so great to see a company talking about Black Maternal Health and taking action.” – Marissa

“Every session I had with my doula was very reassuring. She made me so comfortable about the process and any questions I had, she answered. So, during the whole process I was never alone and had support – either with my doula (my cousin), and then with my midwife, there was someone always available.” – Mila

“My doula helped me so much during my pregnancy and eased my mind. She was very informative and having a caring doula was the best choice I could have made. I would recommend getting a doula 110% as a Black woman -- I don’t think I could’ve gone through my pregnancy without that support.” – Na’Isah

“I used the Black Birth Equity Fund to try to take care of myself with self-care and take my mind off the stress. A lot of people say that a baby changes everything – you’re not going to be able to do whatever, whenever – and I was worried about postpartum depression. The Fund allowed me to unwind as a first-time mother.” – Sharonna

“Having a doula allows me to get rest and allows me time to myself as well, to reset mentally. I have time to tend to myself. There are things that I don’t know and she is able to answer them, or we can work to figure them out together.” – Tamika

Baby Dove Fund Recipient Tiasia Covington

“My doula was with me in the hospital and it made me feel safe and comfortable. There were a lot of things I didn’t know as a first-time mom in labor and she was able to be my voice. Everything went great in my early labor, and it was largely due to my doula being there, guiding me. Baby Dove is doing is great things to help a lot of people, like me, who didn’t have the information beforehand and needed that extra person to provide information and support.” – Tiasia

“I felt that being a doula was always my calling, and the pandemic gave me the time and motivation to live out my passion by training for a purposeful career. Expectant mothers should know that hiring a doula can not only change the direction of the expectant mother and baby’s lives, but their entire family’s experience as well.” – Lakeshia

“I firmly believe that all pregnant people should have access to a doula if they want one – and that is the message that I drive. We not only support and assist women in pregnancy, childbirth and during postpartum, but we also empower all clients and their partners by providing the information they need to make informed decisions that best fit their personal needs.” – Regina

Apply for our grant
On our mission to catalyze systemic change, we’re also collaborating with leading advocacy groups like Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA). Together, we can advance superior care – with and for Black moms and birthing people.

Apply for our grant Apply now

Baby Dove Black Birth Equity Fund FAQs

The Black Birth Equity Fund is a Baby Dove initiative (launched in August 2021), to provide financial grants of $1,300 towards doula services for expecting Black moms and birthing individuals.

The Fund is a fund managed and fiscally sponsored by Players Philanthropy Fund, a 501(c)3 public charity based in Towson, MD.

Baby Dove started the Black Birth Equity Fund because we know Black expectant mothers face significant disparities in care leading up to, during and after childbirth. This results in creating a world where Black women are dying at 3-5x the rate of white women – with 60% of these deaths being preventable. We believe that all families deserve equitable care, including Black expectant mothers, and acknowledge that significant gaps also exist in other communities. The journey to address the Maternal Care gap continues and we look forward to exploring more ways to support expectant mothers and families.

The Black Birth Equity Fund is intended to meet the immediate needs of expectant Black mothers and birthing individuals by providing access to doulas. Doulas are incredibly effective advocates throughout the birthing journey – providing vital physical, emotional, and relational support. Research shows that with the support of a doula, moms are two times less likely to experience birth complications, four times less likely to have a low-birth-weight baby and are more likely to experience overall positive health outcomes during the birthing journey .

Doulas also often work in partnership with health care providers, helping mothers and birthing individuals to have a safe, healthy, and positive labor experience.

Not at all. Doulas work to complement health care providers in helping mothers and families have a safe, healthy, and positive labor experience. As they are on the frontlines with expectant moms, they can help advocate for better care throughout pregnancy, at the birthing moment, and in the Fourth Trimester. Research tells us that, with doula support, people are two times less likely to experience birth complications and four times less likely to have a low-birth-weight baby.

In order to apply for a grant through the Black Birth Equity Fund, applicants must:

Be Black/African-American
Be expecting a child/children, and be in their first - third trimester of pregnancy at the time of application submission
Reside in the United States
Be seeking Doula services for your birthing journey – the award cannot be used for other services beyond Doula support and care.

Eligible applicants can apply for grants up to $1,300 to assist with costs for doula services. The costs of doula services can range depending on location, service, and other factors but can range from about $600-$2000+, so it was determined that $1,300 will cover the average cost for individuals, including taxes that would be later deducted. Applicants will be selected once per month.

Applications are drawn and then reviewed by Don Jagoda Associates, one of Unilever’s lead marketing services and sales promotions agencies. Their team is highly equipped to run brand promotions, such as the Black Birth Equity Fund, and has run hundreds of promotions, grant programs, and contests/sweepstakes for Unilever brands.

Through the randomized drawing process (without personal identifiable information attached), Don Jagoda Associates reviews the subset of selected applicants to ensure they meet the baseline eligibility criteria. Once there is a subset of selected applicants and in order to avoid potential bias, Don Jagoda receives the respective personal identifiable information from Unilever privacy and website agency (Epsilon) in order to conduct applicant vetting. Don Jagoda then conducts applicant vetting to ensure the identity of the applicants. Once those individuals are confirmed, Don Jagoda Associates reaches out to confirm applicants who have 72-hour window to respond to accept/reject the grant offer.

We believe that no person’s individual story should be judged over another story given the experiences that Black birthing individuals and families particularly face. By having external parties review the initially drawn application and manage the reviews, we aim to ensure the process is devoid of any potential biases from the brand/Unilever -- i.e. if a brand team member knows an applicant, etc. We want to ensure the process can be as fair as possible.

After the final selected list of recipients is vetted then confirmed by Don Jagoda Associates, they send that list to fiscal sponsor Players Philanthropy Fund. Players Philanthropy Fund then remits payment to individuals via ACH or paper checks (at the preference of the final recipients), to reach their accounts within 1-2 days (if via ACH and depending on their receiving bank); or by overnight mail (if they select paper mail).

No, there is no maximum number of people who can apply. The Black Maternal Health Crisis is a complex issue that impacts women across income brackets and education; household income or means is not an eligibility factor to apply. However, the application does include a question to gauge household income range for those who are comfortable providing that information so that we can better understand the scope and scale of the issue – and how we can best support moving forward.

The initial window of the application goes until the end of 2023, but we will be evaluating reach and outcomes prior to the window closing to help determine potential application window extensions and ways to keep continuing direct support to Black birthing individuals and issues surrounding Black maternal health -- furthering the overall commitments of the brand.

We are currently in year 3 of the Black Birth Equity Fund. At this time, the Black Birth Equity Fund will have applications open until the end of 2023. Throughout this window, reach and outcomes of the fund will be evaluated to help determine how/what potential continued investment can look like – and other efforts to build on the brand’s commitments to further Black maternal health and reinforce the importance of accessing doula care. This includes our social series #DearDoula to provide ongoing advice and frequently asked questions to Black birthing families, from the perspective of doula advocate Chanel Porchia-Albert; and our recently launched Black Doula Directory, powered by Baby Dove and Sista Midwife Productions, a directory of over 1,000 Black doulas across the country, designed as a resource for Black birthing families seeking vital doula care by those who understand their needs and experiences.