April 15, 2025

Black Maternal Health Week Spotlight

Written by Shellena Eskridge, MSW, LCSW, CHCF Cohort 23, Executive Director, Homeless Prenatal Program

Black maternal health sits at the core of the Homeless Prenatal Program’s (HPP) mission and vision for healthy families. For over 35 years, birth equity and justice have been implicit in the agency’s work to serve black birthing communities. Since it began, HPP has provided programs and services aimed at addressing the social determinants of health.

Over the past few years, HPP has moved its implicit focus on birth justice into greater explicit focus, knowing how critical this work is for our families. Black women have the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States. Furthermore, in San Francisco, 5 of the recent 10 maternal deaths were Black mothers. Noting this statistical reality, HPP recently launched an initiative to audit the Black client experience at HPP. The agency held focus groups with clients and staff to gauge how better to serve Black birthing and parenting families. HPP is now actively integrating recommendations into its programming. Likewise, birth equity is a major tenant of the agency’s new strategic plan, specifically around its commitment to advocacy for maternal health.

As I write this, I am seven months pregnant with my first baby. Pregnancy has been eye-opening for me; not only in its personal joys and challenges, but also in the political echoes of what it means to be a birthing Black woman leading an agency so steeped in this work. It is both an incredible privilege, and I am so honored to carry this responsibility forward to make a better world for my child and for all of our families’ children.

California Coalition for Black Birth Justice

Written by California Coalition for Black Birth Justice

Launched in January 2022, the California Coalition for Black Birth Justice (CCBBJ) is a statewide organization that is committed to unifying and strengthening the Black Birth Justice Movement in California. The Coalition carries out its mission by serving as a statewide connector and convener, supporting the Black birth justice workforce, and partnering with health care organizations to improve care experiences and outcomes for Black families. At its core, the California Coalition for Black Birth Justice is focused on dismantling the persistent inequities that disproportionately impact Black mothers, birthing people, babies, and families through a systems change approach. Organizational leaders say that their work, while focused primarily on Black perinatal outcomes, impacts and supports better births for all families in California.

The Coalition employs a multi-pronged approach to address the Black maternal health crisis, leveraging both evidence-based and community-defined strategies to promote sustainable change. In 2023, CCBBJ released the California Black Birth Justice Agenda: Unifying the Vision for Systemic Change. The agenda calls for systemic change strategies focused on increasing institutional accountability and data accessibility, supporting Black birth workforce development and sustainability, and exploring community-based care.

“At the time, there was no unified vision for birth equity in California. We identified core priorities to drive meaningful change and address the inequities that harm Black families the most,” says Dana Sherrod, MPH, Executive Director of CCBBJ.

The organization and its strategic advisors vetted the agenda with predominantly Black leaders across the state and received resounding agreement. CCBBJ and its partners have since focused on elevating the strategies found in the agenda and are striving to mobilize decision makers into action. The team says it is developing implementation guides to serve as companion pieces to the agenda.

“We can no longer just talk about the problem and theorize about solutions. We all have to roll up our sleeves and do the work,” Sherrod says.

As we observe Black Maternal Health Week this April, we encourage you to learn more about CCBBJ’s Black Birth Justice Agenda. By aligning with this agenda, policymakers, healthcare providers, advocates, and community leaders can take actionable steps to protect and support Black families.

Support CCBBJ by donating here and get the Black Birth Justice Agenda here.

To get involved and explore partnership opportunities fill out the CCBBJ inquiry form.

Follow CCBBJ on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest news and updates.

CHIP Project Update & Opportunity!

Submitted by Carmen Liang, DO (C21)

The UCSF Leadership Institute is launching its Foundations for Excellence in Physician Leadership Program for physicians early in their leadership and administrative careers.

I am reaching out to the alumni network in bringing this opportunity to physicians at your organizations. This program can be brought exclusively to your organization or participants can join our open-enrollment program (https://lnkd.in/g-TeFsCA)

The Foundations for Excellence in Physician Leadership Program is a 7-month program that blends in-person and virtual learning. It was designed to develop and support physicians in gaining the essential knowledge, skills, and tools for success as healthcare leaders. Ideal candidates for this program include physicians in the early stages of an administrative medicine career or those interested in gaining more administrative responsibilities in a clinical setting.

UCSF physicians who participated in the program have indicated great success:

• 95% are likely to recommend the program to a peer.

• 95% agree that the program is valuable for their current role.

• 79% are very to extremely confident in applying the skills learned in the program.

Past participants have shared the following learnings:

• "I learned a lot about the different levels of physician leaders and the skills that go into it. It gave me ideas of what skills I need to develop."

• "[I learned of] the importance of coupling QI tools with behaviors/role modeling and humility as clinical leaders."

• "I will think more critically about the financial impact of my project and future projects."

• "The concepts of change and how to go about it methodically but also aiming for smaller improvements was huge. I plan to try to do this with my team as we open a new clinical site."

If you have any questions and/or are interested in this program, I would be happy to connect and provide additional information - Carmen (carmen.liang@ucsf.edu)