Because the nation marks the tenth anniversary of Black Maternal Well being Week, April 11-17, there may be work taking place day by day within the DMV area to amplify the voices, views and lived experiences of African American moms and birthing individuals.
To additional native efforts combating Black maternal well being disparities, Higher Washington Neighborhood Basis and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield partnered to bolster community-based organizations targeted on elevating consciousness and bettering outcomes yearlong.
With the Growing Households Maternal Well being Fund, nonprofits all through the D.C. space will obtain as much as $200,000 over two years to advance work in areas together with entry to care, psychological well being help, prenatal and postpartum care, financial stability and coverage advocacy.
“These investments signify our dedication to constructing a maternal well being ecosystem that facilities the communities most affected by this disaster,” stated Tonia Wellons, president and CEO of the Higher Washington Neighborhood Basis (GWCF), in a assertion. “Each one in all these organizations is already embedded within the neighborhoods they serve, offering the type of community-led, culturally responsive options that save lives and permit households to thrive.”
Award recipients embody:
Cedar Hill Regional Medical Middle GW Well being
Neighborhood of Hope
GW Middle of Excellence in Maternal and Baby Well being
Wholesome Infants Undertaking
Luminis Well being Docs Neighborhood Medical Middle
Mamatoto Village
MedStar Well being Analysis Institute
Nationwide Middle for Kids and Households
SheRises, Inc.
Voices for Virginia’s Kids
Whitman-Walker
Most of the organizations, comparable to Mamatoto Village, have lengthy been devoted to uplifting Black moms.
“We provide quite a lot of companies, together with perinatal residence visiting, group doula care, childbirth schooling, lactation help, perinatal psychological well being companies, after which additionally workforce growth for future and present maternal well being professionals,” Mariah Barnett, chief of workers at Mamatoto Village advised WUSA 9 forward of the group’s Black Maternal Well being Week celebrations.
The funding from the GWCF and CareFirst Bluecross Blueshield partnership will assist the group’s Moms Rising House Visitation program, providing visitation companies for expectant and postpartum girls within the District and Prince George’s County.
“Each birthing mother or father deserves entry to protected, high-quality care. D.C.’s maternal mortality fee is larger than the nationwide common — and that’s unacceptable,” stated Dr. Bryan O. Buckley, head of public well being at CareFirst, in an announcement. “Behind each statistic is an individual, a household and a group eternally modified. Our funding within the Growing Households Maternal Well being Fund displays our dedication to advancing community-led options and strengthening a system of care that helps individuals at each stage of life.”
10 Years Celebrating Black Maternal Well being
Black Maternal Well being Week, based in 2016 by Black Mamas Matter Alliance and acknowledged by the White Home in 2021, emphasizes the values and practices of the delivery and reproductive justice actions.
A research revealed in December 2025 discovered that maternal mortality charges are 3 times larger in Black and Indigenous moms than in white moms.
This yr, as Black Mamas Matter Alliance celebrates a decade of the weeklong celebration, the group is recognizing bravery and freedom preventing, whereas providing a cost, with the theme: “Rooted in Justice & Pleasure.”
“This milestone theme displays the energy and resilience of Black-led perinatal, maternal, and reproductive well being organizations which have cultivated change and therapeutic throughout communities,” Black Mamas Matter Alliance wrote in its 2026 Black Maternal Well being Week Toolkit. “It acknowledges the enduring legacies of systemic oppression, reproductive injustices, and well being inequities that proceed to affect Black Mamas and birthing individuals; whereas calling for a liberated future rooted in restoration, justice, and pleasure.”
Within the District, organizations like Mamatoto Village, based in 2013, are celebrating Black Maternal Well being Week with enjoyable programming that not solely raises consciousness, however emphasizes all individuals’s roles in preventing disparities, together with a 5K at Nationwide Harbor on April 11 and soiree on April 18 at The Eaton in Northwest, D.C.
“Our theme is ‘Maternal Well being is Everybody’s Enterprise’ as a result of we’re actually attempting to shift this narrative, that maternal well being is a non-public scientific concern. Actually, it’s a shared communal accountability,” Barnett advised WUSA 9 on April 4. “So what we’re doing with our 5K is telling the group, ‘Hey, come out. Communicate out for safer births. Communicate out for each mother who deserves a wonderful birthing expertise, and deserves to come back residence.’”
Celebrations total additional Mamatoto Village’s work to guard, uplift and empower native Black moms, whereas offering others with the knowledge and sources to develop into advocates for maternal well being fairness and total improved outcomes.
“The explanation we’re so fired up is as a result of 80% of deaths are preventable. In the event you simply contemplate all social determinants of well being, in case you actually take greater than these 20 minutes and actually discover out what’s occurring with our mothers and their households, like, all of this might be prevented,” she continued on the native broadcast. “If somebody simply takes a second to say, ‘I care about you. I actually need to aid you. I need to take heed to you.’ And that’s actually what we’re attempting to say is ‘take heed to us.’”
‘Lasting Change’ Past Black Maternal Well being Week
Advocates notice that systemic racism, resulting in well being, meals and financial disparities, contribute to Black maternal well being outcomes.
“The place you reside, your revenue, and your race ought to by no means decide whether or not you survive being pregnant or childbirth,” Dr. Marla Dean, GWCF senior director for Well being Fairness, stated in an announcement concerning the Growing Households Maternal Well being Fund. “But that’s the fact too many ladies in our area face. These grants help organizations which can be dismantling these limitations each single day.”
Jaylah “JD” Dorman, a 2025 Howard College graduate and scientific analysis coordinator and medical assistant at a dermatology clinic in North Carolina, stated celebrating about Black Maternal Well being Week is vital to long run improved outcomes.
“I imagine consciousness is the important thing to addressing any concern,” Dorman, who’s presently pursuing medical college, advised The Informer. “[It’s about] ensuring that the ladies who’re devoting their lives to addressing the maternal mortality disaster deserve the highlight they’re getting this week, as a result of the work right here is vital.”
For the partnering organizations and award recipients alike, The Growing Households Maternal Well being Fund, will not be solely about addressing problems with in the present day, however provide a name to motion for the long run.
“These investments will help organizations on the scale wanted to create actual, lasting change,” stated Andrea Miano, fund advisor for the Growing Households Maternal Well being Fund. “These grants acknowledge that bettering maternal well being requires addressing all the pieces from housing stability to psychological well being help to entry to culturally responsive care—not simply scientific interventions.”
Washington Informer intern Keith Golden Jr. contributed to this story.
