In West Oakland, community-rooted care offers Black mothers support

“Black mothers and infants have been dying at alarmingly high levels for far too long.” This statement is the opening line of the California Department of Public Health’s 2023 report on Black maternal and infant health.

In California, Black women face the highest pregnancy-related mortality rate. In Alameda County alone, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts, while Black infants are four times as likely to die before their first birthdays.

In West Oakland, Alexandria Pierce is working to change that.

Last weekend, around 80 people, about a third more than last year, gathered at the West Oakland Library for the second annual Black Maternal Health & Wellness Expo. Organizations staffed close to a dozen booths, offering everything from lactation support to mental health and reproductive wellness resources.

The three-hour event centered on “community-rooted birth care” — a model that describes Black physicians, doulas, midwives, friends, and relatives supporting Black mothers and their families before, after and during birth.

Alexandria Pierce, president of the West Oakland Library and West Oakland Library Friends, has been organizing the event. Pierce is a doctoral student whose research interests center on community activism within the “Black maternal death frame,” the framing of Black maternal mortality across health-related fields. Her event is the second in a yearly series that will examine Black maternal care and the response to a growing crisis.

Considering the history of experimentation on Black patients in gynecological and other testing, there already is a “huge distrust” of the medical community, Pierce said.  “And then a birthing person is going, ‘Well, wait a minute. 
I am three to four times more likely — no matter where I live, no matter what my economic status is — to die. Something’s off. What’s going on? Why am I going to the hospital and not coming out?”

To combat Black maternal mortality, Pierce is hoping to connect people with community organizations, peer support, and social services to navigate and respond to community needs one mother at a time.

“When we think about the village approach, community-rooted care, we’re literally wanting to rebuild community, rebuild that support,” Pierce said.

Community-Rooted Care

Outside the event, Hively, an Alameda-based nonprofit, distributed diapers, children’s books, and clothing from its mobile resource bus. Hively staff offered CalFresh sign-up assistance and childcare subsidies through its grant program. Closer to the building, Victorious Wanjiro, an independent holistic educator, led an African Reiki meditation.

“My focus is on mental health, nutrition, and reproductive wellness, and really is just about supporting you,” Wanjiro told the group. “Tap into the earth, air, fire, water, the energy, the elements, and how you can use your own mind and your own body, your own spirit.”

In the library’s meeting room, attendees sampled herbal medicines and essential oils, made scented candles and received seed starters. Library staff handed out over 75 bags of free groceries.

Nadia Temou, a doula, and Sasha Moore, a lactation peer counselor, represented Breast Friends Lactation and Support Services, a Bay Area nonprofit that began in 2013 to encourage breastfeeding among Black and brown mothers in East and West Oakland.

Both promoted on-call breastfeeding support and peer groups for Black mothers.

“Most of the time, we are just talking about baby. Sometimes you can forget about mom, but mom has to be there,” Temou told Oakland North, while breastfeeding a baby.

“Moms can come when they’re feeling overwhelmed, to express things, and get knowledge,” said Moore with her daughter, 3-year-old Ariyanna Love, at her hip; she had just weaned her.

“We can bring our children, because a lot of us don’t have babysitters. Sometimes we just need a safe space where we can talk and things are confidential,” she added. “We can ask for help and give ourselves a community that’s ready to help make a big difference.”

Maggie Lam and Telia Jones represented First 5 Alameda County, a state-funded agency that promotes wellness and school readiness for children, from prenatal through age 5. Jones, a longtime Oakland resident, works with the program’s most at-risk populations with complex medical and social needs.

“For our community, having an advocate is important,” Jones said. “We have to navigate systems, code-switch, and do our best to cooperate, try to get our voice heard, not try to shrink ourselves at times.”

Hope for the Future

The expo featured a panel of health providers, moderated by Pierce. 

Panelist Lonni Watkins, senior health education specialist with Contra Costa Health’s  Black Infant Program,  called Black women the “mothers of everything.”

The California Department of Public Health identifies structural racism as a contributor to Black maternal mortality rates. Discriminatory policies influence neighborhood conditions, racism increases chronic stress, and disrespect in healthcare settings both bars access and dissuades return.

“We have to come together, because there’s power in our unity,” Watkins told the audience. “We have to gather. We have to remember. We have to stay at those tables. Because otherwise, they’ll dismantle. The leg will be broken and they will not replace it. We just have to be, and stay, and never be erased.”

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