WHAT WE DO
Research & Strategy
The Research & Strategy Team is the backbone and heart of everything within the organization. This team of researchers and scholars work to uncover data, lead studies, publish articles, and prepare presentation materials about their findings of the ever-changing landscape of Black maternal health.
Policy/Advocacy
The Policy & Advocacy team is responsible for managing NBEC’s Federal, State, and Local policy and advocacy priorities. The Policy & Advocacy team uses a reproductive justice lens to make recommendations to elected officials, key stakeholders, and community-based advocacy groups in an effort to advance birth equity through policy, practice, and programs.
Culture Shift + Strategic Communications
The Strategic Communications team is responsible for propagating the work and mission of the organization. Through media, the Strategic Communications team works to shift the culture of the Black Maternal and child health space; amplifying the voices of those most disenfranchised—Black women and Black birthing people.
Transnational Birth Equity
The Transnational Birth Equity team leads NBEC’s global projects, advocacy, and partnerships, as well as internal community care for staff. Their initiatives are centered on learning from Black women globally, unpacking the harms of the family planning framework, and addressing the impact of climate change and environmental racism on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) to embed a reproductive justice lens within global programming, funding and relations.
Birth Equity Research Scholars
The Birth Equity Research Scholars provide research and evaluation support for NBEC’s programmatic teams, including developing research and evaluation of proposals, plans, analyses, and reports. Scholars inform organizational research and evaluation practices that center Black women and decolonized research methodologies.
Training & Practice
The Training & Practice team works alongside CBOs, hospitals, and health systems, to assess organizational capacity to advance birth equity and conduct responsive training and evaluation planning. Our core services center around NBEC’s Birth Equity Assessment, an organizational readiness and equity assessment, and our seminal training series, Birth Equity Foundations and Deconstructing Bias. Utilizing a combination of these tools and technical assistance, we support organizations in developing a Culture of Birth Equity that ensures equitable outcomes for all birthing people.
Technical Assistance & Business Development
The Technical Assistance & Business Development team works hand in hand with organizations, communities, and stakeholders to develop and implement strategies to achieve health equity goals. We provide training and technical assistance for organizations that value community voices and strive to improve the lives of Black families, keeping in line with our definition of true Birth Equity.