Schools that train specifically Black Doulas and Midwifes?

September 3, 2022 6:11 AM

1. [USA and Canada] I know there is one school in the U S but I have forgotten the name. Are there more? 1a. Schools that are open to all students but have scholarships specifically for Black students.

1b. Any organizations that specifically support Black Doulas and Midwives in US or Canada

2. [Africa] Schools that train Doulas and Midwifes not specifically Black students - interested in all the midwifery schools in Africa

2a. Organizations that support Doulas and Midwives in Africa

posted by cda to Education (5 answers total)

2a. My apologies if you’re already aware but is your interest in supporting midwives (those who may have been taught by family or community members) or trained midwives (formal schooling education)? Apologies for not having references at hand but there are many projects that have focused on giving additional training to informal midwives, both in task sharing and shifting and also in recognizing certain conditions (pre eclampsia, hemorrhage, etc) in which early referral to a hospital system is essential (look of the “3 phases of delay” framework. However this causes tension of “they aren’t properly trained and some times do dangerous things, we should give any more legitimacy” and “well, the reality is that these are the people most often delivering babies so we should improve what we currently have.”

The answer to the above will guide the research into the types of organizations that support midwives.
posted by raccoon409 at 7:21 AM on September 3, 2022

Oops I shouldn't have said schools, meaning formal schools, I should have said training programs.

Doesn't have to be an official training program.

I am looking for people I can financially support who are specifically training Black Doulas and Midwives. If it is an individual, that's OK.
posted by cda at 7:40 AM on September 3, 2022

This is a a friend's project: "Supporting Sunrise provides financial support for Black and Brown Birth Work students, as a part of a community strategy to increase the availability of culturally grounded care in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area."
posted by jocelmeow at 8:07 AM on September 3, 2022

This is recognised as a huge problem in Ontario where of the 963 practising midwives, only 28 self-identify as Black (the main city in Toronto is 50% self-identified as racialised).

There are two universities offering the Midwifery Degree, Toronto Metropolitan Universiry (TMU) has a number of scholarships for midwifery students who self identify as specific racialised groups : https://www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/midwifery/awards/MEPAwardsataGlance_2022.pdf (the $ amount is low, but tuition is also only $7,000 a year). I know Ancestral Hands Midwifery clinic (https://ancestralhands.ca/) is concerned with access to education as well, but I do not believe they offer financial support. Black students at TMU are also researching the issue at https://www.Torontomu.ca/colour-of-birth.
posted by saucysault at 10:25 AM on September 3, 2022

Check out the NAABB - National Association to Advance Black Birth. One of their initiatives is to provide scholarships to Black midwives and I believe they’re actually in the middle of a selection round so this is an ideal moment to get in touch with a donation - if their fund increases right now they may be able to include more people!

For anyone who may not know, because of how many nonBlack health practitioners are racist, having a Black birth worker is proven to significantly improve health outcomes for Black birthing people and Black babies.

So- thank you so much for wanting to help with this very important cause!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:27 PM on September 3, 2022