Insights, stories, and news

This week in the New York Times, Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell calls attention and offers important solutions to the United States’ increasing maternal mortality rates and the inequities embedded within them in her piece More Mothers Are Dying. It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way. In New Jersey, where Black women are nearly seven times more...

Since the news surrounding Tori Bowie’s death broke last week, we’ve been thinking deeply about the ways in which the details of her story exemplify the failures of the current healthcare system when it comes to birthing people, particularly those who are Black and those with a history of mental health issues.

“Maternal morbidity and mortality, preterm birth, and infant mortality rates in the United States are among the worst in the developed world, with rates particularly high among Black and Indigenous people. To date, we’ve seen growing rates of disparities across the U.S., and these are expected to worsen with the reversal of Roe v. Wade....

Jhenielle has worked in the public sector, with nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, and in communities throughout her career. As the founder of BloomMama Birth Services, she assists expectant families in Northern New Jersey as a birth and postpartum doula.   We look forward to learning from Jhenielle’s impressive experience shifting systems while also providing direct services...