Model and Strategy
The Mama Glow Foundation envisions a world where everyone has access to safe, high-quality, dignified, culturally competent maternal healthcare. The Foundation is committed to improving maternal health outcomes and advancing reproductive justice and birth equity through: :
Education & Training. Providing foundational and advanced training, mentorship, and professional development support to a global community of doulas (birth workers). Mama Glow also is developing pathways for continued education and career growth in the doula workforce, including training for doulas interested in pursuing midwifery. Founder, Latham Thomas, was appointed Visiting Professor of the Practice of Gender Studies at Brown University, where she teaches the Mama Glow Professional Doula Training Program as a course.
Movement Building. Collaborating with student-led groups, professors, and administrators at academic institutions including Brown University, State University at Albany (NY), and Tougaloo College (MS) to raise the future generation of maternal health and reproductive justice leadership; and partnering with youth-focused organizations to develop pathways for young people to engage in peer-led reproductive justice work.
Policy Advocacy. Team members sit on the boards of the New York Coalition for Doula Access and the Massachusetts Doula Coalition, where they work to advance policies that support increasing access to doula care, provide recommendations on thriving wage standards for doulas through insurance reimbursement, and create guidelines to promote respectful and safe hospital designations. A priority for the next 1-2 years is utilizing their platform to engage doulas nationally around policies that impact birth workers.
Research & Scholarship. Partnering with academic and healthcare institutions in New York State and the Northeast, including Tufts University and Mt. Sinai Hospital, to build a stronger case for the importance of doula support and help policymakers, healthcare providers, and insurance companies make informed decisions about the role of doulas and their integration into maternal healthcare. Mama Glow also consults with teaching hospitals in developing anti-racism strategies and implicit bias training and curriculum.
Doula Services & Workforce Development. Mama Glow Foundation is the largest provider of pro-bono doula services in New York City. Providing these services through their local doula community allows Mama Glow to create a steady flow of job opportunities for their community.
Impact
Mama Glow Foundation is committed to creating sustainable solutions that address the specific challenges faced by BIPOC birthing people, families, and communities. Since 2018 the Foundation has trained over 2,500 doulas globally. Over the past two years they have awarded more than 300 scholarships for the Mama Glow Doula Homeschool Professional Training Program – representing 20% of all applicants – a significant investment in growing a workforce of BIPOC & LGBTQ+ birth workers who intend to serve in and for their communities. In the past year, the Foundation partnered with academic institutions to train and organize 90 university students, community and academic leaders, and administrators in Mama Glow's Professional Training Program, helping to build the future of the doula and maternal health workforce. The Foundation also has provided doula training and mentorship to 50 women and femmes impacted by incarceration, offering a professional path forward for justice-impacted individuals; the doulas who emerged from this program continue to bring birth work into the prisons and work with at-risk birthing people.
In New York City, The Mama Glow Foundation is a vendor and the largest provider of pro-bono doula services for the Citywide Doula Initiative. This initiative offers professional, no-cost doula services to vulnerable individuals including Medicaid-eligible clients, unhoused, migrants, undocumented, teens, and folks living in shelters or foster care. Through the Citywide Doula Initiative, the Mama Glow Foundation contracts nearly 100 doulas to serve over 350 families in the same communities where they live – addressing health disparities while promoting economic empowerment for their community of doulas. The Foundation's Love Delivered Initiative likewise provides pro-bono doula services to people who do not have access to quality healthcare or support during pregnancy and childbirth. Love Delivered is set to serve over 100 births in 2023, offering respectful, dignified, and culturally congruent care.
Two recently published resources that Mama Glow Foundation is especially proud of are Birth Work Burnout: Exploring Integrative Approaches to Nurturing a Healthy Doula Workforce, a research and policy brief highlighting structural barriers that contribute to doula burnout and turnover and presenting policy recommendations to address these issues; and Birthing While Black Prep Guide, a free 64-page digital resource for Black birthing people to access to help them navigate pregnancy and birth.
Leadership
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Latham Thomas
Founder & CEO; Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice of Gender Studies, Brown University