Black Centering is a new kind of care made for you and your baby.
Black Centering is a new kind of care made by, for, and with us.
BElovedBIRTH Black Centering honors and celebrates Black birth, Black families, and Black community.
BElovedBIRTH Black Centering is a new GOLD PACKAGE of prenatal and postpartum care, by, for and with Black people. Our unique model of group care is brought to you by Alameda Health System and the Alameda County Public Health Department. It provides a supportive Black community to help you and your growing family through the joys and challenges of pregnancy, birth and parenting.
With BElovedBIRTH Black Centering, you get an all Black dream team of healthcare providers including Black midwives, family support advocates, doulas, breastfeeding specialists, doctors, nutritionists, psychologists, and more. Our program is midwifery-led and team-based, so we all work together to make sure you get the care you need.
Our group prenatal care model means you get a village of support. At the start of pregnancy you are matched with 8-12 other pregnant people with similar due dates. Then you get 15 two-hour group visits from early pregnancy through to the early postpartum time. Group visits have lots of time for interactive activities and discussion, and time for a private check-in with the midwife. All of our groups are facilitated by a midwife who provides clinical care, and a family support advocate who provides care coordination and resource connection. And other care providers like doulas and breastfeeding/infant feeding specialists are featured as guest facilitators based on the topic of the day.
BElovedBIRTH Black Centering focuses on you and your needs as you move along the journey from pregnancy to life as a new parent. In this program we will celebrate key milestones and accomplishments, while helping you overcome challenges and lower stress. Our program provides the highest quality of care to help you and your baby have the best start.
Why Black Centering?
BElovedBIRTH Black Centering is the kind of high-quality prenatal care that you and your family deserve.
- We are in crisis. Every day Black mothers, birthing people and their babies are experiencing disproportionately high rates of traumatic experiences and preventable complications in pregnancy and birth. But it doesn’t have to be this way. These differences in rates of birth complications are caused by racism.
We know that:
- There is nothing wrong with Black birthing people. We are not predisposed to ill health or birth complications.
- Black people are strong and resilient, and perfectly capable of having healthy pregnancies and births.
- The answers to this crisis are in the Black community. We are the experts in our needs, and programs to address this crisis must be led by us.
BElovedBIRTH Black Centering was created by, for, and with Black people. Our program is specially designed to address the problem of racism increasing the risk for birth complications in our Black community.
Our Recipe for Success
Our unique model of care includes all of the top 3 things shown to help us thrive in pregnancy:
1. A Black care team
Benefits include:
- Better communication and understanding
- Greater sense of safety and trust
- Lower risk of racial bias/discrimination resulting in bad health outcomes
2.The CenteringPregnancy Model of Group Prenatal Care
Benefits include:
- Built-in village of support with other moms and parents
- More information and control over your care, leading to greater sense of empowerment
- More time with your healthcare providers
- More enjoyable and satisfying experience
- Lower risk of baby being born too soon (preterm), or too small (low-birth weight)
- More success with breastfeeding/ body feeding
3.Wrap-around social support
Benefits include:
- More resources and essential supplies for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum
- More support with challenges and stress reduction
- Help navigating and getting connected to additional support services
Our Vision & Mission
Our Vision
We envision a world where Black birthing people have all the support, loving care, and resources needed to have happy, healthy, and safe pregnancies, births, and postpartum recoveries; free from obstetric racism.
Our Mission
We believe in your strength, resilience, and power to have a healthy pregnancy and birth!
Guided by fierce love for Black families and community; our mission is to provide group prenatal and postpartum care by, for, and with Black people that aims to:
- Honor and celebrate you, your birthing experience and your community.
- Lift up your voice, wisdom, and expertise as a Black woman and birthing person.
- Acknowledge and activate your power and potential.
- Embrace you and your family in a village of community support.
- Lessen the impact of racism on your care experiences and health outcomes.
