Dear community,

We’re in the thick of summer now. For some of us that means a holiday or vacation is (finally) on the horizon; for others it’s the daily work of keeping things running. Wherever you are, we hope you’re finding pockets of ease and staying cool, despite the daily updates and news alerts we’re likely all monitoring.

From the Supreme Court decisions, to Alabama’s attempt to shut down birth centers, to global conflicts and instability, these realities can feel disconnected, but they’re not. They tie back to the same truth, where lives and bodies are treated as disposable, and where care is treated as optional. We’re witnessing the divestment in this work and in our communities in real, material ways.

And yet, the conversations happening right now about new forms of capital for birth equity remind us that resourcing the field doesn’t have to look the way it always has. We’re bringing that same spirit to our own work at FBJE, by elevating the interconnectedness of birth justice and adjacent movements, and centering community partners and expertise in our work.

This fall’s Summit isn’t just a space for conversation between funders and the field. It’s an opportunity to reimagine what’s possible when philanthropy supports movements both through transitions and in building what comes next. We hope you’ll join us.

Thank you for being in community with us.

With gratitude,
Nakeenya Wilson + Kyndall Osibodu
Co-Directors, Funders for Birth Justice and Equity

What’s Happening at FBJE

Meet the newest member of Team FBJE 🎉

Charity Howard is an operations-minded community leader with expertise in executive support, project coordination, and building systems that help mission-driven organizations run more effectively. Drawing on experience across nonprofit, healthcare, and community-based settings—plus a background in organizing and advocacy—she brings strategic thinking and strong relationship-building to everything she does. Outside of work, Charity is a midwife, wife and mother of 6, beekeeper, and lifelong learner. Learn more about Charity here. 

Registration is open for the 2026 Birth Equity Summit! Join us in Detroit, MI, October 20-22!

The Birth Equity Summit is an opportunity for funders to align philanthropic capital with birth infrastructure, both responding to the moment and resourcing durably for the future. Attendees will engage with a birth justice map covering policy and legislative realities, funding shifts, health outcomes, and organizations doing the work. In collaboration with CBOs and birth workers, this convening is an opportunity for philanthropy to align with movements and resource the work. Click below to register. Note: If you’re a funder member at FBJE, and you haven’t received your discount code, let us know!

Join Us. 

Are you leading birth justice work in your community? Join us at the Birth Equity Summit.

Birth justice is an ecosystem, held up by CBOs, birth workers, and organizers, and shaped by movements from housing to climate to family advocacy. This fall, we’re bringing field leaders together with funders to map the systemic conditions shaping our work, build relationships across the field, and align philanthropy with movement priorities.

We’re prioritizing participants from Detroit/the Midwest and the South, then the coasts and CBO leaders, birth workers, and advocates/organizers in adjacent movements. This is just a start, and it won’t be perfect, but it reflects FBJE’s core philosophy: this work should be co-governed and stewarded by community.

Travel and lodging are fully covered. Please share with your networks, nominate and sponsor a leader, or apply below.

Funders: Nominate a Leader Here

CBO Leaders: Apply Here

June Monthly Learning Series Recap

Thank you for joining the June Monthly Learning Series centered on investing in the political leadership and civic participation of mothers and caregivers, featuring Mothering Justice’s Danielle Atkinson and Vote Mama’s Louisa Duggan. Louisa shared Vote Mama’s work to get more mothers into elected office, pointing to the representation gap driving this work: just 7.9% of state legislators and 7.2% of Congress members are mothers of minor children. Danielle shared Mothering Justice’s multi-state organizing model, which builds the civic power of mothers of color through leadership fellowships and policy advocacy on childcare, paid leave, and healthcare access. As these organizations show, caregiver leadership and civic participation are foundational to birth justice. To see improved maternal health outcomes, philanthropy must invest in the full ecosystem, including the policy and legislative change needed to sustain it.

As a reminder, the monthly learning series will pause over the summer. See you in September!

At the Intersections: What’s Happening in the Field

• Alabama’s Birth Centers Fight for Survival: Alabama’s freestanding birth centers remain in limbo. After the state shut down the first center to open in Alabama, a trial court sided with the centers in 2025, but an appeals court reversed that ruling in January, allowing the state’s licensing authority to stand while further review is sought. The centers remain open for now, but the case will decide whether midwife-led, community-based birth care has a future in a state facing one of the nation’s most severe maternal health crises. Follow the case via the ACLU’s tracker on Oasis Family Birthing Center et al. v. Alabama Department of Public Health.
• Fathers Take Their Advocacy to the Hill: On June 10, 4Kira4Moms brought its 3rd Annual “Dads Got Something to Say!” Advocacy Day to Capitol Hill, sponsored by Healthy Moms Healthy Babies. Fathers and “Dadvocates” from across the country met with lawmakers to push legislation like the Dads Matter Act and the Momnibus, both aimed at improving maternal health outcomes and equity. The campaign, born from founder Charles Johnson’s own loss of his wife Kira, reflects a growing body of evidence that engaged fathers and partners are linked to better birth outcomes and stronger postpartum recovery. For funders, it’s a reminder that paternal engagement remains an underinvested lever in the fight to close the maternal health gap.
• Through Repair to Regeneration: Our partners at Orchid Capital Collective are hosting a four-part summer series on reparative and regenerative capital, and what it takes to fund a new care system, one that meets community midwives, doulas, and reproductive justice leaders with the sustainability they’ve long been denied. Birthland Midwifery is a fitting example of why: the Oakland-based, Black midwife-owned practice is building a freestanding birth center for families and birth workers, work that requires grants for financial sustainability and patient, flexible capital for long-term community ownership. We’re proud to share that Birthland’s founder, Kiki Jordan, serves on FBJE’s host committee for this year’s Summit. Learn more about their work here.
• Ms. Foundation for Women has published their newest report, Birth Justice Now: How Ms. Foundation for Women is resourcing community-based birth justice solutions. The report, co-authored by our own Advisory Committee member, Sona Smith, reflects on the organization’s contributions to the birth justice movement over the past four years. Read the report here.
• Forbes recently published an article, “Over 80% Of Maternal Deaths In The U.S. Are Preventable. Here’s One Model Showing How”, featuring our own Advisory Committee member, Aza Nedhari, and her work with Mamatoto Village. Mamatoto Village has supported thousands of families in Washington, DC. Read more here.

Do you have research, an initiative, or a funding opportunity you’d like us to uplift? We invite you to share updates and opportunities for collective learning here.