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Dear CNMA Members & Friends,
We are writing to invite you to join meeting the CNMA Anti-Racism Committee and workgroup.
The aim of this committee is to work towards addressing structural racism within CNMA and developing opportunities to redress the harm caused by racism within Midwifery and our larger community.
Members of the committee can be students, new-grads, practicing or retired CNMs. You do not need to have a current CNMA membership to join the workgroup. We encourage you to share this email with any midwives you know who are dedicated to anti-racism who may be interested in joining the committee.
We will meet monthly via zoom video with periodic opportunities for in person gatherings.
As this is an anti-racism working group, we ask that folks who plan to join have previous experience doing anti-racism work.
If you are interested in joining the group please indicate your interest by completing this google form. Please also read the following ACNM documents related to anti-racism:
Please also, understand the following background: This group is very new. Everyone involved is new to this work together, but not new to the work of anti-racism. We are intentionally opening this group up in the hopes of developing our larger community of CNMs committed to dismantling white-supremacy. We humbly ask that you join us in this work, and have patience with us as we co-create our vision for addressing structural racism and redressing harm caused by racism.
Feel free to reach to the group or any of us as individuals with any comments, questions or concerns. You can email our group at arrj@cnma.org.
Warmly,
Lisa Davis, CNM,
Chair of CNMA Anti-Racism Committee
Mar Schupp, SNM,
Student Representative to CNMA BOD
CNMA Anti-Racism Committee Member
Jillian Cauley
Northern California Rep on CNMA BOD
CNMA Anti-Racism Committee Member
Liz Donnelly
Vice-Chair CNMA Health Policy Committee
CNMA Anti-Racism Committee Member
The CNMA Board of Directors (BOD) is proud to announce the creation of The Anti-Racism Committee and Workgroup of the BOD. The aim of this committee is to work towards addressing structural racism within CNMA and developing opportunities to redress the harm caused by racism within midwifery and our larger community.
The CNMA Board of Directors is committed to being part of the solution towards eliminating race-based disparities in maternal child health and reproductive health. We recognize that this work includes, among other things, addressing structural racism and implicit bias within our own organization, improving the racial diversity of our profession, and working to change policies to ensure equitable access to midwifery for all pregnant people, including removal of physician supervision.
The anti-racism group formed in mid-December, it is a formal committee and workgroup of the CNMA board and one current member is a voting CNMA board member. In order to help us achieve inclusiveness and diversification, we have designed a structure where members and non-members can be involved in this work. We are in the process of developing formal bylaws and including changes that will allow the committee chair to be a voting member of the board.
The committee has begun to lay the foundation for this work and has already had some initial successes including:
Working with ACNM to support this work by offering scholarships for committee leadership to attend the ACNM conference.
Ensuring a dynamic speaker for our Annual meeting prepared to address issue of racism in reproductive health care
Supporting CNMA to cosponsoring SB 464 The California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act which mandate implicit bias training for all hospitals and birth centers.
The near future direction of the work includes:
Involvement in supporting the recruitment of midwives of color for CNMA board of director roles as new positions open up.
Providing anti-racism training to CNMA BOD and members.
Working on opportunities increasing the number of CNMs of color.
For those interested in learning more about this work we recommend reading the following ACNM documents that are informing this work:
The Anti-Racism Committee and Workgroup work is guided by the framework of Reproductive Justice, for more information on Reproductive Justice we recommend:
Sincerely,
Kathleen Belzer
CNMA President
Meet Lisa Davis, Chair of the new Anti-Racism and Reproductive Justice Committee
CONTACT
Lisa Davis and the Anti-Racism and Reproductive Justice Committee can be reached by email at arrj@cnma.org
Link to our full board of directors and committee chairs HERE.
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