| | Support: What Does It Really Mean?By: Binta Niang, LM |
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| My journey with my third baby — from pregnancy through labor, delivery, and recovery — has given me a new perspective on the meaning of support.
As a midwife, I have spent years helping families navigate pregnancy, birth, postpartum recovery, and the healthcare systems that influence their care. But experiencing pregnancy from the other side of the clinical relationship has made me ask: What does it really mean to support someone?
In healthcare, we often focus on services and resources: insurance, transportation, education, and access to providers. These matter, but so does understanding the circumstances people face, including racism, implicit bias, language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and financial hardship.
Support Through the Lens of a BIPOC Midwife My roots in West Africa and my experience practicing midwifery in the United States have shaped my understanding of care.
In many West African communities, maternity care is deeply connected to family, culture, community, and trusted birth workers. These relationships remind us that care extends beyond clinical services to include emotional reassurance, shared knowledge, and cultural continuity. Yet, families may also face financial limitations, long distances to healthcare facilities, and shortages of skilled providers.
In the United States, advanced technology and specialized care do not guarantee that people feel supported. Someone can have insurance but struggle to afford care, have an appointment but not feel heard, or be surrounded by healthcare professionals and still feel alone. The presence of services does not guarantee that people have what they need.
The Childbirth Education Class That Changed My Perspective Several years ago, I held weekly childbirth education classes. During one session on nutrition and postpartum preparation, I shared practical, evidence-based recommendations about balanced meals and nourishment. One participant told me the information was helpful, but obtaining nutritious food was not as simple as we had made it sound. Her words stayed with me.
It is easy to recommend eating more protein, choosing iron-rich foods, or preparing meals for postpartum. But, what happens when someone works long hours, struggles to pay bills, cares for children, or lacks help at home? This participant was also navigating diabetes, high blood pressure, and anemia. We were asking her to make significant nutritional changes while she was already carrying a tremendous physical, emotional, and financial load… |
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| | Feedback Wanted: NACPM Policy Survey |
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| We invite you to take NACPM’s Policy Survey. Your responses will help us understand where CPM legislation and regulation stand in your state, which policy issues matter most to CPMs in your state, and what support would help your advocacy efforts the most.
Results will shape NACPM’s 2027 state policy priorities, toolkits, and technical assistance. Please respond by December 4, 2026. We appreciate your feedback!
Sincerely, NACPM Team |
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| | | Thinking Big About Community Birth Data and Research |
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| The Think Big Initiative, a collaborative effort to build the infrastructure that makes community birth accessible in every community, is working hard to answer that question. One of the clearest answers so far: more community birth data and research.
In fact, while Think Big has identified five domains essential to building universal access (quality improvement, data collection and research, workforce development, policy reform, and systems integration), they’ve identified data and research as the foundation for progress across all five areas. And for good reason: quality improvement, policy reform, and systems integration require reliable evidence about community birth care and its outcomes.
“Much of the Think Big framework relies on accurate, timely, complete data,” notes CBDR Co-Director Marit Bovbjerg, PhD. “Quality Improvement relies on data, since you need to know how you’re doing now to see where and how your practice could improve. The other pillars of Think Big also rely on data: we use data to evaluate policy changes, we use data to assess systems integration, and we use data to drive workforce development activities. The CBDR will be integral to moving the Think Big initiative forward.”
Support for Your Data Entry Work Think Big identified another challenge we take very seriously: For community birth providers, collecting data is usually a job without compensation, competing for the time they need to care for their clients. We know this is true, and we’re determined to make entering data into the CBDR as efficient and seamless as possible. If you’re having challenges with the technical aspects of data entry or the amount of time it’s taking, please reach out by emailing CBDR Manager and Data Doula Akane Sugimoto Storey or booking a meeting with her.
Our Goal: Making CBDR Participation Free for Everyone We’re actively working with our funders to reach one of our next important goals: making CBDR participation free for community birth providers in every state. CBDR membership is currently free for community birth providers in Washington, and community birth providers in California and Hawaii can participate for free if they are members of their state midwifery association (contact Akane for details). We’re committed to removing cost as a barrier to CBDR participation, and we’ll have more updates soon. |
Your Feedback Improves CBDR for Everyone Have you filled out our member survey yet? It’s short, and we value your responses as we continue to grow.
Warmly, The CBDR Team cbdr@qualityhealth.org P.S. Not a member yet? Created by midwives for midwives, CBDR is actively enrolling new members. |
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| | | NACPM Launches Four Free Interactive Tools for Midwifery Advocacy |
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| We’ve recently released four free interactive tools for midwives, families, advocates, and lawmakers! Together, they show where people can reach birth care, how each state regulates CPMs, and what the research says about birth at home, in birth centers, and in hospitals.
The new tools are: Access to Birth Care: drive-time access to hospitals with labor and delivery, midwife-run freestanding birth centers, and NARM-examined home birth midwives. State Comparison on CPM Practice: licensure law, workforce, fees, Medicaid, scope of practice and access measures for every state. Licensed Midwife Medications: state-by-state medication authority for licensed midwives, linked to the law. Birth Settings in America Dashboard: the evidence from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) 2020 report, made easy to explore.
Note: When viewing on desktop or mobile, click or hover over “Maps” on the homepage navigation menu to see the list of maps.
How advocates can use these tools These tools were built for action. Whether your state has had licensed CPMs for decades or has no path to licensure at all, they give you evidence you can bring to a lawmaker's office tomorrow.
In states without CPM licensure: Show legislators the drive-time map for their own district: where families have no hospital within 30 minutes and where a licensed midwife could close the gap. Use the State Comparison map to point to neighboring states that already license CPMs, and how long their laws have worked. Bring the NASEM dashboard to answer safety questions with national evidence, not anecdotes.
In states ready to modernize licensure: Compare your state's fees, scope of practice, and medication list with states that meet ideal conditions — and make the case for change. Use the Medicaid and access layers to show how payment and integration affect whether families can actually reach a midwife. Use the Canada comparison to argue for integration: smooth transfer of care, fair payment, and full scope.
For NACPM and all advocates: Add maps and charts to testimony, fact sheets, presentations, and grant proposals. Track progress over time as state data is updated. Help us keep the data right. Your local knowledge makes the tools stronger for everyone.
Help us keep us honest These tools are living resources, and we welcome your corrections. If you see an error, a missing midwife or birth center, or an out-of-date law, please email advocacy@nacpm.org. Midwives who want to be added to the Access to Birth Care map can fill out this anonymous form.
Every family deserves access to the care they choose, close to home. With these tools, NACPM and advocates in every state can show lawmakers where that care exists, where it is missing, and how midwives can help close the gap! |
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| | | Submit a Proposal to Present at the Community Birth Conference |
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| Deadline: November 23, 2026! |
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| Are you passionate about advancing community birth?
If so, we invite you to propose an engaging session for the NACPM/AABC 2027 Community Birth Conference to be held May 20-23, 2027 in Greenville, South Carolina.
The conference theme is “The Confluence: Shaping the Future of Community Birth.”
This premier, national gathering celebrates midwifery-led birth centers and home birth practices. Connect and collaborate with a vibrant, multidisciplinary community including midwives, nurses, birth workers, administrators, physicians, and advocates dedicated to shaping the future of perinatal care!
We are seeking dynamic proposals that address clinical innovations, administrative excellence, and the challenges facing community birth providers and leaders. We especially encourage submissions featuring interactive learning, bold ideas, and a focus on racism and health disparities, social determinants of health, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. |
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| | | More Than a Conference. A Community. The Community Birth Conference is an opportunity to bring our field together around a shared vision: a future where every family has access to safe, respectful, evidence-informed perinatal care — and where community birth professionals are empowered to practice, lead, and thrive.
Join us in Greenville, South Carolina in May! More information to come. Subscribe to stay updated. 💛 |
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| | | Resource Spotlight: Strengthening Rural Maternal Mental Health |
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| Maternal Health Action and Resource Center (MHARC) is a central hub for training, support, and skill-building for organizations and individuals working to improve maternal health and ensure safe pregnancies across the U.S.
This particular module, “Strengthening Rural Maternal Mental Health,” comes from the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health and the National Governors Association. It highlights how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and its Rural Health Transformation Program create an unprecedented opportunity for Governors to improve maternal mental health in rural communities. It explores the challenges facing rural mothers, from workforce shortages to care deserts, and outlines innovative policy and program solutions to close these gaps.
You can find more MHARC resources on topics like: Your Choice: Wait for Labor or Labor Inductin A Toolkit for Implementing Two-Generation Postpartum Care State Laws on Substance Use Treatment for Incarcerated Pregnant and Postpartum People And much more!
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| | | Executive Director Travels: 2026 ACNM 71st Annual Meeting & Exhibition |
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| | The Meeting is the premier continuing education, networking, clinical, and business meeting for certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and certified midwives (CMs) nationwide. Dr. Jah joined perinatal care leaders from across the country for workshops, CEU trainings, and more.
NACPM remains committed to continuing to foster collaboration with ACNM in shaping midwifery in the U.S. |
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| | Apply for an AABC Foundation Research Grant |
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| Letters of Intent due November 15th |
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| Do you have a research project that could advance the birth center model of care?
The AABC Foundation is now accepting applications for its research grants. Each one-year grant provides up to $5,000 to support research focused on the birth center model of care.
Who can apply? Individuals or organizations Non-profit status is not required Projects must focus on the birth center model of care Applicants must demonstrate the capacity and a clear plan to complete the research within the proposed timeline
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| | | NACPM Joins the MMH Accelerator |
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| We are pleased to share that NACPM has joined the recently launched National Maternal Mental Health Accelerator along with more than 100 national, state, and local organizations working across maternal health, mental health, policy, advocacy, philanthropy, community and insurance payer sectors!
The goal is to turn growing awareness of maternal mental health into coordinated action and measurable systems change. The Accelerator’s priorities include: Expanding access to trained providers Addressing care deserts Integrating behavioral health into obstetric care and expanding care teams Extending postpartum care Advancing paid leave Reducing financial barriers to care
The Accelerator is also collecting patient stories to advance policy and support closing research gaps. |
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| | | Feedback Wanted: ICM’s Position Statement on Partnership with Indigenous Midwives |
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| The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) has been working on the promised revision of ICM’s Position Statement on Partnership with Indigenous Midwives, which Council suspended in June. The updated draft draws on preliminary input from Council and the Indigenous Working Group, whose work concluded in 2025. It has since been compiled and reviewed by the ICM Head Office team and Board.
ICM is now seeking feedback from member associations, Indigenous organizations, midwives, and communities. If you believe your perspective could contribute to the consultation, please email info@internationalmidwives.org. Share this opportunity with others whose voices should be included.
Feedback will be collected until November 20, 2026, then consolidated and presented to the ICM Board. The Board will finalize the Position Statement and submit it to Council in June 2027. |
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| | NACPM Welcomes Three New Board Members! |
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| NACPM is delighted to welcome three new members to its Board of Directors: Patricia Gagui, Connie Perkins, and Chautauqua Ellison! This now makes a total of 13 members, with two of them serving as public members. Read an excerpt about each new Board member below… |
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| Patricia Gagui, CPM, LM, has dedicated her career to strengthening community-based maternity care through education, mentorship, advocacy, and clinical practice. After beginning her journey as a birth doula in 2018, she became a Certified Professional Midwife and Virginia Licensed Midwife while founding Maple & Moon Midwifery, where she provides home birth care to families across the Mid-Atlantic region.
In addition to clinical practice, Patricia serves in admissions and student support within midwifery education and has spent years developing educational programs, mentoring future birth workers, and building pathways into the profession. Her work has consistently centered on helping students succeed while also recognizing that strong educational experiences depend on healthy, sustainable support for the preceptors who generously invest their time, knowledge, and energy into training the next generation of midwives. |
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| Connie Perkins (she/they) is a mother, midwife, and activist, specializing in full spectrum, trauma-informed reproductive care. She has over 20 years of experience supporting families through the childbearing year and sees birth as a potentially transformative, ceremonial event, enriching our communities and honoring our lands.
As a midwife and educator, Connie is committed to the growth of access to midwifery-based care and equitable, safe education for midwifery students. Connie brings a unique perspective to midwifery education and training: They trained as a PEP student in a busy rural practice in Michigan and then also completed a MEAC-based program. Connie has also worked as adjunct academic and clinical faculty for several different midwifery institutions and with students pursuing many different educational routes. |
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| Chautauqua Ellison is an educator with more than 28 years of experience in early childhood education. She is also a graduate of A Wombman's Way Warrior Midwife Training and a community midwife, committed to advancing birth justice and culturally rooted care for Black families.
Through her work with Spiritual Edge Traditional Birthing, Chautauqua is passionate about preserving the legacy of traditional Black midwives, strengthening community-based midwifery, and ensuring families have access to compassionate, culturally responsive maternity care. |
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| | | | Your Voice in NACPM’s 2027–2029 Strategic Plan |
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| NACPM is beginning work on our next strategic plan, and we want it to reflect the people who know this work best: our members.
This survey asks what NACPM does well, where we fall short, what CPMs and our communities need, and where you think we should be headed over the next three years. Your answers will directly shape our priorities through 2029.
The survey takes about 15 minutes. All questions are optional and responses are anonymous unless you choose to share your contact information. Please respond by November 12, 2026.
Thank you for your time, your honesty, and your commitment to CPMs, community birth, and the families we serve.
Warmly, Cassaundra Jah
Executive Director, NACPM |
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| | | Place Your Bid in the November Silent Auction |
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| This month’s NACPM Silent Auction is sponsored by NACPM Board Member Brooke Prudhomme. Place your bid for this Amanda Greavette birth art print, signed by the artist!
Amanda Greavette is a Canadian figurative oil painter. She lives and works in Muskoka, Ontario and has maintained a studio practice since she graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design with a BFA in 2004.
Amanda has developed multiple bodies of work, notably “The Birth Project”, a 10-year series depicting birth and early motherhood, which has been shown internationally. Amanda’s work explores the emotional terrain of womanhood, particularly the raw, layered experiences of childbearing and midlife.
This beautiful print of oil on canvas measures 48" × 36". It is titled ‘It’s a Human Thing’ – (It’s a girl?! It’s a girl!!).
Starting bid: $40. Auction closes on November 30 at 4:00pm ET. |
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| | | “My devotion is to securing the self-regulation of community midwives, which we have done successfully for millennia, through the work that the NACPM has done and continues to do.” — Brooke Prudhomme, CPM |
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| Why should you bid?
Your winning bid does more than bring home an inspiring memoir. It helps strengthen the future of midwifery! Proceeds from this auction support NACPM and its vital work to advance the CPM credential, advocate for community-based midwifery, expand access to safe, evidence-informed maternity care, and support the professional growth of Certified Professional Midwives across the country. |
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| | | SB 1271 Signed into California Law |
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| We are thrilled to share that SB 1271 (Reyes) was signed into law on September 27, 2026!
Why it matters
California can't grow its midwifery workforce without clinical preceptors, the licensed midwives who train the next generation. Until now, the state has had no reliable data on how many midwives are able and available to precept, or where they are. Student midwives have felt that gap firsthand in long searches for clinical placements, and policymakers have had no way to see it.
What SB 1271 does Requires the Medical Board of California to ask licensed midwives about their eligibility, availability, and capacity to serve as clinical preceptors, building on the state's existing healing arts workforce data law (Business and Professions Code §502) Directs the Medical Board to share that data quarterly with the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) Requires HCAI to report its findings to the Legislature by June 30, 2029
The bill passed every committee and floor vote unanimously. That kind of support reflects the work of so many midwives, students, families, and partners who shared their stories and showed up. |
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| | | Reminder to Submit Your Events |
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| We welcome all NACPM Chapters and Partners to share you recent news and/or submit your events!
View Our Event Calendar. (If viewing on mobile device, hover over the gray calendar boxes.) |
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Submit Your Event to Our Calendar. If you or others in your network/community are hosting relevant events, or events that offer CEUs to midwives, please share this form with them so we can feature the event on our calendar. |
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| | NACPM is proud to be supported by hundreds of individual donors and these visionary foundations. |
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