Innovative leadership, business and care models

Michigan

Detroit-based WKKF grantee the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion has promoted its first Black executive director, Dr. Yusef Shakur, as it moves to a shared leadership model. Eventually, leadership in the new model will be split three ways, with longtime leader Steve Spreitzer overseeing internal operations, Shakur leading community transformation and a third yet-to-be-named person leading social justice and advocacy programming.

Mississippi

As we celebrate women across the globe this month, Portia Espy, president and CEO of WKKF grantee the Mississippi Urban League, shares how a mural of Harriet Tubman inspires her to serve the state’s children and families. In a story published by our partner Black Like Us, Espy talks about food insecurity and the Jackson water crisis, and how education and resources are key to building equity across the state.

Health

A new report from the National Partnership for Women & Families, a WKKF grantee, provides an in-depth look at the state of maternity care in the United States. The research, which was recently featured in a Health Affairs blog, finds that payment and delivery reforms intended to improve outcomes for mothers and newborns are falling short, and data on equity were hard to come by. In the report you’ll find concrete actions health care decision-makers can take to improve outcomes for mothers and babies while reducing racial and economic disparities.

Health

A new Mississippi law that increases access to critical prenatal care for low-income families goes into effect July 1. The presumptive eligibility legislation has been championed by WKKF’s partners, and means Medicaid will pay for pregnant women’s outpatient medical care for up to 60 days while their applications to the government-funded insurance program are being considered.

Mexico

An article in the online news site La Silla Rota profiles midwives in Chiapas, Mexico, and cites WKKF grantee Nich Ixim as a source. The Nich Ixim Midwifery Movement is made up of several hundred midwives and promotes the preservation and dignity of midwifery. WKKF supports Nich Ixim’s processes of agenda and strategy development. The movement’s agenda involves official recognition and compensation of midwives, the rights of women to safe and respectful childbirth experiences and the right of children to an identity established by midwife-issued birth certificates. The agenda has been endorsed by Indigenous midwives across Mexico. The movement is also collaborating with one of Mexico’s main public health institutions, putting the midwives in contact with hospitals in case women require emergency care. The La Silla Rota article illustrates the lifelong dedication of midwives to their art.

Haiti

An article in BNN Breaking on Haitian migrants finding refuge in Mexico mentions the Haitian Bridge Alliance and other organizations that defend asylum-seekers’ rights. WKKF supports the Haitian Bridge Alliance’s delivery of quality, trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically relevant mental health services for Haitian and Afro-descendent asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.