MISSION:
The Missouri Community Doula Council™ advocates for Missouri's families by ensuring access and coverage to community-based doula services for pregnant, birthing and postpartum women and people. The Missouri Community Doula Council™ advocates for and supports Missouri doulas by providing amplitude on the state discourse on maternal infant health, and by providing credentialing, billing, educational and certification services for the success and well-being of community doula providers.
Research has shown that the use of doulas results in the improvement of perinatal outcomes for all families. Black and under resourced pregnant women need doulas that see, hear, and understand them and that can help them navigate the murky waters of our current health system-making it imperative for Missouri Medicaid and private insurance to cover and reimburse for doula care services.
We understand the tremendous role that lack of access and systemic racism plays in health inequities. As the Missouri Community Doula Council, we understand that restoration and transformation are needed to heal our broken healthcare system.
MCDC's founders Hakima Tafunzi Payne & Okunsola M. Amadou has been on the frontlines since 2016, ensuring that Medicaid reimbursement and private insurance coverage, at an equitable wage, happens swiftly. In September 2024, and after years of hard worked, they finally secured a victory after leading state legislative and department of health efforts. Thanks to the leadership of Payne and Amadou, Missouri now reimburses doulas across the state for full-spectrum care at a livable wage.
OUR WORK:
Community-Based Doulas provide care in a way that is nurturing, relevant and familiar for those receiving it. We are working to ensure that pregnant women in Missouri receive this level of care in their communities, and that doulas providing these services are accessible to all families, paid their worth, protected and uplifted.
OUR GOALS:
Providing amplitude for the state discourse on maternal & infant health.
Supporting candidates of color as they pursue careers in the doula profession.
Serving as a vanguard for perinatal innovation and problem-solving.
Standing as a resource for others who desire insights into our community values and cultures.
Representing the concerns and desires of communities of color in Black maternal and infant health in the state of Missouri.
Promoting doula science as a topic of increased study and understanding in the social and biosciences.
Working to eliminate barriers to doulas in communities of color.
Promoting culturally congruent care models for communities of color among doula service providers.
Illuminating the doula profession with the presence of state level leadership.
Because pregnant women need doulas that see, hear, and understand them and that can help them navigate the murky waters of our current health system.
Advisory Board Members of MCDC:
Jamaa Birth Village provides culturally-congruent Doula & traditional Midwifery care. Our two-year family care model brings together evidence-based Midwifery + Doula Care, Perinatal Mental Health Support, Breastfeeding Education, Holistic Therapies, Childbirth Education, Family Support Services and so much more!
Uzazi Village is a nonprofit organization dedicated to decreasing maternal and infant health inequity among Black and Brown communities. Through education, support, and advocacy, Uzazi Village works to improve perinatal health in the Kansas City community and around the country.
The Mid-Missouri Black Doula Collective is breaking ground as the first Black Doula cohort in Columbia. The cohort brings together 10 doulas with a common goal: educate women about their choices during childbirth and personalize a phenomenon that’s gone from home to hospital.
The mission of Missouri Bootheel Regional Consortium, Inc. (MBRC) is to strengthen, promote, and empower families and communities through quality programs that emphasize results, including a new Doula care and Doula training program in their region.