Microsoft word - birth trust 2013 grants.docx

2013 Grants
Methods for Birth Trust Grant Selection:
Birth Trustees voted on our grant docket and are donors who give a minimum of $33 per month each year to FAM. The
ballots had 13 finalists screened by the FAM Board who had reviewed each complete application. Grants awarded total
$80,000. The Birth Trustees ranked each funding area’s projects against one another on the basis of impact, likelihood of
success, and financial ef iciency, and the winning project was selected from each category. Additional y, we asked each Birth
Trustee to name their three favorite projects at the end of the bal ot. Those votes were tallied, and there existed a large
range where the most favored project received 24 votes and the least received no votes.
1) PUBLIC POLICY GRANTEES
National Association of Certified Professional Midwives
The Mama Campaign: Campaign Policy Support
Every day in the U.S., women and babies suffer, even die, from the inherent irrationality and harmful practices of our
current medical management approach to birth in the U.S. Women and babies of color suffer these consequences at many
times the rate of the general population. Certified Professional Midwife care is proven to make a difference in the lives of
childbearing women, improving quality, safety, and women’s experience of care, al the while saving significant health care
dol ars. H.R. 1054, the Access to Certified Professional Midwives Act, which wil be re-introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives in April 2013, wil open doors to ful access to CPM care for al women, including low-income women
insured by Medicaid. FAM grant funds wil support the advancement of this important piece of legislation and increasing
access to quality care for al childbearing women and babies.
Homebirth Consensus Summit Regulation and Licensure Task Force
Best Practice Toolkit for Midwifery Regulation and Licensure
To achieve universal access to highly qualified maternity providers in al set ings, it is essential to improve conditions and
systems for regulation, licensure, and hospital credentialing of midwives who at end home births in the US. Conflict and
confusion about educational standards and widely disparate regulatory language between regions are some of the known
barriers to access. With support from FAM, we wil create a Best Practice Toolkit for Midwifery Regulation and Licensure: an
innovative and comprehensive resource for policy makers and legislators that wil facilitate a common understanding of the
credentials and range and scope of practice expected of midwives. The Toolkit wil include i) a complete database describing
the existing regulatory framework for midwifery practice in each state; ii) an evidence-based rating system that compares
the effectiveness of legislation by state; and ii ) a resource guide to model language, and successful precedents for
instituting regulation. This much-needed toolkit wil enhance consistency and accuracy of information when legislation is
under consideration.
Midwifery Education Accreditation Council
Capacity building to meet the growing demand for midwifery education
Demand for midwifery care is growing. Accredited midwifery schools provide a valuable pathway to increase the numbers
of midwives in the US. However, the process of becoming accredited—as it currently exists—can be a significant burden to
educators while the process of reviewing accreditation materials—as it currently exists—can be a significant burden to the
midwives who volunteer to be peer reviewers. MEAC has received feedback in recent years that it needs to improve its
accreditation process through the use of technology. With a grant from FAM, MEAC wil be able to offer web-based
submission of applications and reports associated with the accreditation process, thus eliminating a significant barrier to
success for midwifery schools and for the volunteers who review them.


2) PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANTEES
Midwives Alliance of North America
Women in the Center: Our Stories of Birth
In 2012 the Midwives Al iance (MANA) produced I am a Midwife, the first in a three-part series of inter-related public
education videos. The second series wil be cal ed Women in the Center: Our Stories of Birth. MANA wil partner with six
consumer organizations to produce videos that wil feature women’s own stories of birth. Working together as a coalition,
they wil leverage the power of social networks to create social change, and impact public perception and cultural narratives
about pregnancy, childbirth and midwives.

Choices in Childbirth
Business of Being Born Classroom Edition
The Business of Being Born: Classroom Edition (BoBB:CE) engages graduate, undergraduate and high school students
through a compel ing documentary and study guide that describes the chal enges of the American maternity care system. In
a short amount of time, the project has had enormous success — in less than a year, the project has reached over 2,000
young people, 193 col ege student groups, and over 100 professors. Feedback from pre and post program surveys have
shown that 81% of those who watch the film and participate in the toolkit believe that midwives are bet er trained to
handle normal, low-risk birth than OB/GYNS. With FAM’s potential support in 2013, we would turn our focus to bringing
BoBB:CE to states and regions where midwifery laws are poor and where access to the Midwives Model of Care is especial y
chal enging — this includes states and regions with regressive midwifery lawsi and/or low rates of practicing midwivesii.
Addressing the urgent need for greater grassroots awareness and political mobilization in support of pro-midwifery
legislation, this project would result in a next generation of young people in key states who are bet er informed and poised
to engage in local debates related to women’s access to the Midwives Model of Care.

3) RESEARCH GRANTEES
Midwives Alliance of North America, MANA Division of Research
Capacity Building for Timely Reporting of Midwifery Care Statistics
The Midwives Al iance of North America (MANA) Division of Research (DOR) is building capacity to make possible the timely annual reporting of midwifery statistics of MANA Stats contributors, in a public way similar to the overal US statistics reported annual y by NCHS. Capacity building is also essential for the success of a proposed CPM2015 study, which would triple the size of the MANA Statistics Project. Capacity-building projects include increased support staff (Data Doulas) to help midwives stay current with data submission; essential software work to al ow the staff and web site to handle the continual y increasing flow of data; integration with Private Practice; and streamlining of the antiquated postal-mail-based consent form process. Funding from FAM would cover a portion of this work. University of British Columbia Midwifery Division
A matched cohort study of maternity outcomes and midwife-led care in the United
States
Conflict and controversy over the safety and efficacy of planned home birth has persisted over the past 60 years in North America. Evidence from wel -designed population-based cohort studies that compare perinatal outcomes across birth set ings has contributed to the integration of planned home birth into the maternity care system in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and New Zealand. However, there are no large, high quality studies which compare birth outcomes across home, hospital and birth centers in the United States. Our team of expert researchers is proposing the most comprehensive analysis of maternal and fetal outcomes by birth place to date, comparing existing MANAStats data (~ 40,000 records col ected between 2004-2012) on home and birth center births with a matched cohort of low risk women who planned a hospital delivery (total sample size ~80,000). 4) REDUCING DISPARITIES GRANTEES
National Council for Aboriginal Midwives (NACM)
Multimedia Midwifery: Education and Equity in Aboriginal Communities
Multimedia Midwifery: Education and Equity in Aboriginal Communities promotes education and access to information for urban, rural and remote Aboriginal communities around the modern-day practice of Aboriginal midwifery - helping to demystify the profession and promote its benefits. The project wil feature the development of replicable interactive multimedia tools and resources to support Aboriginal midwives; promote the profession of Aboriginal midwifery; and support Aboriginal communities to assess their own maternal health needs. Among these tools wil be an interactive Midwifery Resource Toolkit accessible online, as wel as in printed format for wide distribution to career and health centres in Aboriginal communities across Canada. Video footage of country-wide community consultations wil also be edited and made available through NACM’s website and on Isuma.TV, an independent online interactive network of Indigenous multimedia. Mamatoto Village
Full Circle Doula Program
By fostering community supported parenting, Mamatoto Vil age seeks to improve the perinatal health outcomes for underserved and high-risk women and babies in the National Capital Region through col aboration of the Ful Circle Doula and Mothers Rising Programs. Through the provisions of professional training for birth workers of color, this project serves as an educational and outreach initiative, designed to create highly skil ed and cultural y competent Birth Workers of Color who wil aid in preparing expectant teens and lower socioeconomic women under 25 to experience pregnancy, birth and motherhood in an empowering, healthy and self-determining way. Midwives Alliance of North America
The Social Justice Agenda
The Midwives Al iance (MANA) is seeking funds to implement Phase 2 of its social justice plan that includes creation of a social justice framework, commitment to providing ongoing opportunities to address anti-racism and cultural competency for the MANA leadership and membership, educate midwives on health disparities and how to address them, and foster relationships with partners in social justice organizations. The Midwives Al iance wil hire an expert consultant to lead MANA in organizational development and skil s-building in order to implement change processes that wil advance principles of equity and justice within the organization and for midwifery practice. 5) INTERNATIONAL ACCESS
(Civil Association of Midwives of Chimaltenango) ACOTCHI
Community Based Use of Misoprostol by Indigenous Midwives
This project, conceived and directed by ACOTCHI, a group of indigenous lay midwives in rural Guatemala, addresses the high rates of maternal postpartum hemorrhage in their communities by providing training in and access to oral misoprostol for use in rural home births. This wil al ow for the rapid detection and treatment postpartum hemorrhage in these remote set ings. The project includes plans for rigorous evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of the model. Through the program, ACOTCHI is advocating for and advancing the cause of lay midwifery in Guatemala and other impoverished set ings worldwide, by demonstrating that lay midwives are bet er suited than any other profession to care for their patients in ways that are both cultural y and linguistical y appropriate and also innovative and cut ing edge.                                                                                                                

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