ABOUT
The Black Maternal Health Center Of Excellence
The Black Maternal Health Center Of Excellence provides maternity care & support in Los Angeles County
Empowering Black women, birthing persons, and their families to feel safe, respected, and informed through their entire pregnancy journey
Black families are long overdue for a positive transformation in their maternity experience.
Among the wealthiest nations, the US has the highest maternal mortality rates, with Black women and birthing persons consistently over-represented in these statistics.
In Los Angeles County, Black infants and mothers are 3-6 times more likely to die than other race, primarily from preterm birth and preeclampsia.
The CDC has reported that two-thirds of these deaths could be prevented. And while U.S health professionals and government officials have acknowledged there’s a major Black maternal health crisis, change comes at a snail-slow pace.
But Black people don’t need the numbers to know there’s a problem.
They live through it.
They hear their friend’s and family’s complaints about medical mistreatment and disrespect.
They sit through prenatal visits feeling like their concerns and questions are dismissed.
And they’re left feeling unprotected when medical staff tell them what to do without providing information about their choices.
Pregnancy can feel like just one more time to fight racism.
It’s exhausting, and it’s unacceptable.
That’s why we created the Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence (BMHCE).
A New Vision
Of Black Maternal Healthcare
The Organizations Behind BMHCE
The idea for the Black Maternal Health Center Of Excellence (BMHCE) was born in 2017 by the Charles Drew University (CDU) Department of Urban Public Health (DUPH), in partnership with the African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Prevention Initiative (AAIMM).
These organizations partner with BMHCE to prevent infant and maternal mortality in LA County and the broader U.S.
CDU is a Historically Black Graduate Institution. It is the second most diverse university in the nation and the only academic health sciences center for the 1.5 million residents of South Central Los Angeles.
CDU was founded on the idea that research, training, and engagement are the three essential pillars for transformative community change.
The university’s mission is to train underrepresented health professionals about social justice perspectives and methods that prioritize the needs of the underrepresented.
CDU’s DUPH, whose students are majority Black women, trains health professionals to:
Prioritize resolving health disparities
Increase awareness of race and racism
Research how health inequality shapes disease
Collaborate on community-based projects that are historically grounded, holistically participatory, and in direct response to community need
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health launched AAIMM in 2017.
They immediately set a goal of reducing infant and maternal health disparities by 30% in LA County by 2023.
To achieve this goal, AAIMM and BMHCE have committed to the following standards:
We intend to reach a broad population of Black families, since research shows that maternal inequities are greater for all Black people, regardless of social, economic, behavioral, or educational differences.
We will partner with Black-led organizations that are known and trusted in their communities.
We will provide anti-racism training to partner organizations so that clinical and community interventions will be rooted in historical context.
How We Support Parents
We opened the doors of the BMHCE Maternity House in 2022, where we connect Black families with a range of services and support, including:
Prenatal and postpartum care
Certified community midwives and doulas
Mental health support, including assistance with perinatal and postpartum depression
Non-Hospital based labor and delivery support, including birth centers and home births
Hospital-based labor and delivery support, including hospital-based midwifery care, high risk pregnancy care, and planning for a potential hospital transfer
Preconception & interconception (time between births) planning
Financial aid and scholarships for maternal care and resources
Referrals to free and low cost pregnancy support organizations
Domestic violence and substance abuse support
Prenatal classes
Lactation support
Meet the Team
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Cynthia Davis, MPH
PROGRAM ADVISOR
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Bita Amani, Ph.D.
CO-FOUNDER AND STRATEGIC ADVISOR
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Brandi Sims Desjolais, Ed.D
CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
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Shanelle Bailey, MPH
SENIOR PROGRAM MANAGER
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Keomi Barksdale, MSHCA
CLINICAL MANAGER
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Kymiah Charles
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Are you a maternity care professional?
We offer maternity training and education with a focus on reproductive justice for midwives, doulas, physicians, nurses, hospital workers, community organizers, and more.