Our Impact

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Since 2018, Black Mamas ATX has served over 130 Black mothers. 

BMATX’s mission is to ensure that Black women survive and thrive before, during and after childbirth. We envision a world without maternal health disparities. Therefore, our goal is to reduce and ultimately eliminate the alarming maternal mortality and morbidity rates among Black mothers in Central Texas. With effective collaborative partnerships and through culturally-congruent programs, training, outreach, and research, BMATX is leading the charge in Central Texas to improve Black maternal health and wellbeing over the childbearing spectrum.

On average, women receiving services stay with the organization for 18 months. 

  • approximately 2,380 hours of doula care; 
  • prenatal care to 54 women;
  • postpartum care to 39;
  • and assisted in 38 births. 
  • to date we have held  27 monthly sister circles and 91 women have benefited from this support group; 
  • we have a 100% breastfeeding initiation rate (African Americans continue to have the lowest rates of breastfeeding initiation (60%) and continuation at 6 months (28%) and 12 months (13%) compared with all other racial/ethnic groups in the United States.)

Our Work

TRANSFORM SYSTEMS

Black Mamas ATX is working to engage institutions in the process of understanding and interrupting institutional racism as an upstream determinant of health and contributor to disparate health access and outcomes. Black women have identified systemic racism as the biggest obstacle they face in their healthcare.

CREATE A HEALTHCARE PIPELINE

Black Mamas ATX is fostering partnerships to invest in a sustainable pipeline of Black physicians, nurses, pharmacists, hospital/clinic administrators, doulas, midwives, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists. Culturally competent providers are the front line in stemming the tide of poorer health outcomes for Black women.

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SHIFT THE NARRATIVE

We have organized the “Show Up for Black Mothers” campaign to bridge the health divide, build relationships, interrupt institutional racism and strategize ways to bring awareness to the disparities in the experience of pregnancy and childbirth among Black women. Through public awareness, we are building a sustainable movement to make the experience of pregnancy a positive one for Black women.

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POLICY DEVELOPMENT & ADVOCACY

Black Mamas ATX is engaging the greater Austin community in strategic planning, policy development and advocacy to reduce health disparities. We are working to implement protocols and training for providers that will help make them aware of systemic racism and give them the tools they need to treat Black women effectively and ensure healthy pregnancies, births and motherhoods for Black families.

VILLAGE SUPPORT

We are developing an Afro-centric home visiting program, Sister Support Groups, Daddy/Partner Doulas and health care services navigation to connect Black mothers with the services they need to take care of themselves and their families during this vital point in their lives. It takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to ensure that women have the resources they need to enjoy a healthy pregnancy, delivery and motherhood.

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RESEARCH PARTNER

Black Mamas ATX is collaborating with academic and community researchers to improve health equity by developing systems and metrics to measure the wellbeing of Black women. These systems will not just to track the reduction of health disparities, but we will use those metrics to ensure the effectiveness of our movement in addressing the unique challenges facing Black mothers.