The Bigger Table Fund
Annual Application Deadlines January 15, April 15, July 15, October 15
Annual Award Announcement Days February 1, May 1, August 1, November 1
NACPM is committed to investing in systemic changes necessary to open pathways for more Black, Indigenous, other midwives of color, and LGBTQIA2S+ midwives to enter the profession and to build and sustain midwifery practices.
NACPM’s Bigger Table Fund is a scholarship initiative to help build a racially, ethnically and socially representative CPM workforce to meet the urgent needs of childbearing people in our country by removing some of the financial barriers faced by students and midwives from communities most affected by poor birth outcomes.
This Fund provides financial awards for student midwives of color, Indigenous and/or LGBTQIA2S+, and new CPMs from these communities
$3000 is distributed quarterly, according to a lottery system
The maximum individual award is $1000
Awards are given for:
the initial NARM national CPM certifying examination fee
the fee for retaking the NARM examination when needed
one-time initial state licensing fees
Fall 2018-Summer 2021: $31,300 awarded to 45 midwifery students and recent graduates from communities most affected by inequities and disparities in birth outcomes
Listening to the Student and Midwife Community
NACPM has a long-standing commitment to growing a representative CPM workforce. As we shape strategy and take action, NACPM relies on input from those most affected to tailor our initiatives to meet the most pressing needs. The story of the development of the Bigger Table Fund began in 2012 and continues to evolve:
2012 CPM Symposium : input from the community about the impact of racism on midwifery
2012 NACPM Statement of Strategic Intent to Address Racism and Racial Disparities in Maternity Care in the U.S.: NACPM’s response to community input from the Symposium
2012 Tanya Khemet Taiwo, CPM-ret., MPH, PhD, became the first person of color appointment to the NACPM Board
2014: NACPM members approve a by-law change to maintain two appointed full board positions for persons of color and two public members, an ongoing and step towards building and sustaining leadership of color for NACPM
2015 Keisha Goode, PhD, is appointed to the NACPM Board as the first public member. Her research, “Birthing, Blackness, and the Body: Black Midwives and the Experiential Continuities of Institutional Racism”, profoundly impacts NACPM’s journey toward equity and justice
2017 NACPM commissions community needs assessment, titled “Women of Color Entering Midwifery” by Nancy Anderson, MPH, MD, “Women of Color Entering Midwifery” [ML5] by Nancy Anderson, MPH, MD, to understand barriers to midwifery for people of color to design an optimal structure for financial support
2018 CPM Symposium: community requests direct support for the cost of the NARM examination and initial state licensing fees
2018 Launch of the Bigger Table Fund
Annual Application Deadlines : January 15, April 15, July 15, October 15
Annual Award Announcement Days : February 1, May 1, August 1, November 1