Maternal Mental Health Equity Fund Announces Grant Recipients
As founding members of the Maternal Mental Health Equity Fund, CHAP is honored to announce the recipients of a new grant designed to fund models of maternal mental health care built in and by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
The seven selected organizations will each receive $75,000 per year for three years. Funds are intended to enhance grantee partners’ existing models and services, with access to technical assistance, evaluation and learning supports, and other resources needed to help support each programs and participating communities will additionally be available.
Members of the three year cohort will also be part of a national, peer-to-peer learning community aimed at both fostering connections on key issues tied to delivering maternal mental health services and elevating community driven models of care for systems and policy leaders at the local, state, and federal levels.
The following organizations, selected from nearly 150 applicants from across the country, have been selected for this new initiative:
– Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services, in King County, Washington,
– Our Roots, in Alameda, California,
– Perinatal Health Equity Initiative, in East Orange, New Jersey,
– Todos Juntos, in Austin, Texas,
– Valley Settlement, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado,
– Village of Healing, in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and
– We all Rise: African American Resource Center, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
All of the programs are working within BIPOC communities, led by BIPOC leaders with a community-oriented focus, and demonstrating impact in addressing maternal mental health inequity.
About the Maternal Mental Health Equity Fund (MMHEF)
In 2021, mental health was the leading preventable cause of maternal mortality, with maternal mental health—which can include anxiety, depression, mood disorders, psychosis, substance use disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder—affecting one in seven birthing women, and nearly one in four new mothers of color experiencing postpartum depression. However, most pregnant and parenting people of color are not getting the help they need.
MMHEF was launched to directly support the mental health and well-being of BIPOC families and is a national pooled fund currently supported by Perigee Fund, Community Health Acceleration Partnership (CHAP), Maritz Family Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Roots & Wings Foundation, two anonymous funders, as well as others who have contributed as individual investors, including Awara Mendy Adeagbo.