Birth in Color RVA has collaborated with stakeholders to bring a summit that will bridge the gap between maternal and reproductive health justice. The week will be full of events including Community Baby Showers, virtual Webinars, and other community-focused events. The Annual Black Maternal Health Summit will be held on April 14, 2023 in Richmond Virginia. You can get your tickets to attend now! This will be a full day of speakers, workshops, and interactive learning.

In Virginia, Black women are three times more likely to die than white women during childbirth or due to pregnancy-related causes. Our maternity care system is failing black women. Our goal is to bring attention to unacceptable racial disparities in our maternity care systems, get out of our silos and equip all attendees with additional knowledge and tools to raise awareness and bring positive action to the issues that affect women at one of the most vulnerable times of their lives.

Without Reproductive Justice there is no justice in maternal health. Overall health, sexual education, abortion, and contraception care are key factors to helping maternal health outcomes.

Here are the events happening around Virginia hosted by Birth in Color RVA during Black Maternal Health Week:

April 8 @ 11:00 AM — Lynchburg Community Baby Shower Register
April 8 @ 5:30 PM, Lynchburg — Taratibu Youth Association African Dance Troupe & Community Screening of Birthing Justice, Get Tickets
April 11 @ 5:00 PM, Richmond — Birthing Justice Screening, Get Tickets
April 12 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Richmond — Black Women’s Wellness Day
April 14 @ 9:00 AM, Richmond— Black Maternal Health Summit, Get Tickets
April 15 — Hampton Roads Community Baby Shower Register
April 15 — Danville Community Baby Shower Register
April 16 — Richmond Community Baby Shower & Festival Register
April 17 — @ 5:00-8:00 PM, Richmond — BMHW Wrap-Up & Spring Celebration at Pinky’s

We encourage Nurses, Physicians, Social Workers, Family Practitioners, Pediatricians, OB/GYNs, Home Visitors, CHWs , Doulas, Public Health Professionals, Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and other healthcare professionals who provide care to black birthing people to attend the summit for an opportunity to hear high-impact presentations and panel discussions on improving maternal and reproductive health vitality to advance maternal, birth, and reproductive justice.

The Summit will be held at U-Turn in Richmond, 2101 Maywill St, Richmond, VA 23230

Continental Breakfast and Lunch are provided.

Event Keynotes:

Jennie Joseph is a well-respected health advocate for women and newborn babies. A British-trained midwife, Jennie has become one of the world’s most respected midwives and authorities on women’s health: healthy pregnancies, healthy deliveries and healthy babies.

She’s become a true advocate for systematic reform that puts women and babies first in healthcare; before profit, convenience and the numerous reasons America trails other developed nations in healthy births. Jennie’s common sense approach has won her the attention of global news media and brought her invitations to speak all over the world.

Jennie is the founder and executive director of Commonsense Childbirth Inc. but more importantly, she is the creator of The JJ Way®, a common-sense approach designed for women and children. She moved to the United States in 1989 and began a journey that has culminated in the formation of an innovative maternal-child healthcare system, markedly improving birth outcomes for thousands of women and children.

Harriet Washington, a medical ethicist, has a unique and courageous voice and deconstructs the politics around medical issues. In addition to giving an abundance of historically accurate information on ‘scientific racism’, she paints a powerful and disturbing portrait of medicine, race, sex, and the abuse of power by telling individual human stories.

Washington also makes the case for broader political consciousness of science and technology, challenging audiences to see the world differently and challenge established paradigms in the history of medicine.

Her latest book, Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent, is the alarming tale of how the right of Americans to say “no” to risky medical
research is being violated. Patients’ right to give or withhold consent is supposed to be protected by law, but for decades medical research has been conducted on trauma victims ― who are disproportionately people of color ― without their consent or even their knowledge.