Outside the Hospital Walls: Exploring Community Birth, Midwifery, and Sustainable Financing Solutions

Families across the country are seeking birth experiences that reflect their values and cultures through community birth centers, home birth, midwifery-led care, and other community-based models. Join midwives, doulas, clinicians, policymakers, and community leaders for a day exploring how community birth can become a more accessible, sustainable, and integrated part of our health care system.

Session 1 at 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET   |   A Different Place to Birth: Exploring Community Spaces, Choice, and Care
Indra Lusero, founder of Elephant Circle, explores what becomes possible when birth is supported beyond hospital-centered models, centering autonomy, culture, dignity, and connection.

Session 2 at 2:00 – 3:00 PM ET   |  Built to Last: Creating Financially Sustainable Community Birth Spaces
Ola Allen-Taylor (Orchid Capital Collective) will look at the funding models, partnerships, and policy strategies that keep community birth spaces open, accessible, and responsive to the communities they serve.

Session 3 at 4:00 – 5:00 PM ET   |  Who Gets to Birth Where? Building the Future of Community Birth
Dr. Kaytura Felix (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and Dr. Cassaundra Jah (NACPM) tackle how funding, policy, and partnerships can move community birth access from conversation to action, facilitated by Omotunde Sowole-West of the PN-3 Capacity-Building Hub at the BUILD Initiative.