ESSENCE Exclusive: Chicago Beyond Commits $2 Million To Empower Four Birth Advocates To Transform Black Maternal Health – "This Will Have Generational Impact"

From Miami to Massachusetts, four visionaries will each receive 500K in unrestricted support to reshape perinatal care and build a more just future for Black mothers.

By Melissa Noel

In a bold move to address one of America’s most persistent healthcare crises, Chicago Beyond has launched a groundbreaking fellowship initiative, committing $2 million to support four exceptional birth workers dedicated to improving Black maternal health outcomes nationwide.

The national philanthropic organization, which has invested more than $65 million in over 200 individuals and organizations since its founding in 2016, selected four remarkable leaders for its Fellowship for Black Maternal Health: Jamarah Amani, Executive Director of Southern Birth Justice Network (Miami, Florida); Nikki Hunter-Greenaway, Founder of  Bloom Maternal Health (Houston, Texas); Femeika Elliott, Founder of The Lotus Program Experience (Knoxville, Tennessee); and Soraya DosSantos, Founder and Project Director of  Sacred Birthing Village (New Bedford, Massachusetts).

Each fellow will receive $500,000 in unrestricted funding over three years, strategic resources and capacity-building support—a transformative investment in a field where practitioners often struggle for recognition and sustainable funding.

“This fellowship really means the world to me,” says Amani. “I know that the impact it’s going to have, and is already having in my community, is raising awareness, amplifying our issues, and providing more resources to support me in continuing this work. I know that this fellowship is going to have a generational impact,” she tells ESSENCE.

Inspired by the urgent call from birth justice leaders and alarming CDC statistics showing Black women in the United States are three times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women. Chicago Beyond committed to the fellowship at the 2023 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting. The organization designed the initiative after extensive consultation with elders in the field, policy visionaries and birth workers themselves.

“Chicago Beyond’s interest in addressing the maternal mortality crisis has truly been years in the making, along with our work to highlight some of the alarming disparities in Chicago,” explains Liz Dozier, founder and CEO of the organization. “The idea is to support work of distinctive leaders across the country who have first-hand experience in the field, which oftentimes I think is not lifted up enough in terms of what it should be in a larger conversation.”

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