April 18, 2024

Black birthing individuals have two to three times the maternal mortality and morbidity risk as white individuals.

Nashira Baril, founder of the Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston, knows of the disparities in maternal health all too well.

“There is a crisis in maternal health, and it bears down inequitably to communities of color, particularly around Black folks in this country. And that has everything to do with racism being embedded in every structure of society,” she said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with genetics or being predispositioned to a bad outcome. It has everything to do with living Black in a country that wasn’t designed for us to thrive.”

This Black Maternal Health Week, the New Commonwealth Fund is granting $300,000 to the Neighborhood Birth Center.

The Neighborhood Birth Center is using the money to open Boston’s first and only community birth center that emphasizes midwifery care in Roxbury.

Watch the full clip on NBC 10 Boston.