Birth Center Week 2024 Events

Pink and purple orchid flower with multiple blossoms and buds on a stem.

We are proud to share these incredible resources so together we can Grow Birth Centers & Grow Communities! Use the links below to find recordings of our powerful Birth Center Week 2024 sessions.

Flyer for Birth Center Week on Sunday, September 15, featuring a woman with curly hair and glasses holding books, surrounded by pink orchids. The event promotes discussions on birth workers and student debt, focusing on midwifery and perinatal health students facing financial insecurity. It includes details about an Instagram live event and a website for more information, with the logo of Birth Center Equity at the bottom.

Sunday Support Circle: Birth Workers & Student Debt

An chat between Bri Franklin, debt constraint prevention expert, and BCE’s Denicia Cadena, to learn more about predatory lending and how to avoid it, and how debt overwhelm negatively impacts the diversity and quality of perinatal workforce and perinatal health overall.

A promotional graphic for Birth Center Week featuring a photo of a healthcare provider examining a pregnant woman in a medical setting, surrounded by pink orchids, with text about a workshop on starting a birth center scheduled for September 16th.

So You Want to Start a Birth Center?

A workshop led by Tamara Taitt & Rebecca Polson of  Kinfolk Consulting for Black, Indigenous aspiring and developing birth center leaders of color on how to start building the best birth center for you and your community. 

Note: This session was not recorded per request of the presenters. For more information, go to Kinfolk Consulting.

A promotional poster for Birth Center Week featuring a woman in labor being attended to by medical staff, surrounded by pink orchids and colorful background, with text about a podcast on public health and birth centers.

Birth Centers are Public Health!

A special edition of the America Dissected podcast with public health leader Dr. Abdul El-Sayed*  and BCE CEO & MPH Leseliey Welch to learn why birth centers are a crucial public health solution, and how public health and birth center leaders are collaborating to grow community birth infrastructure across the country.

*Dr. Sayed is Wayne County (MI) Public Health Director; Host, America Dissected podcast; and author of  Healing Politics & Medicare for All

A promotional graphic for Birth Center Week featuring a photo of three women smiling outdoors, surrounded by white orchids, with event details and logos for Birth Center Equity and Primary Maternity Care.

Stepping Up Together: Collaborating to Center Safety in Community Birth

Presenters from Primary Maternity Care shared tools available to support interdisciplinary emergency drills from birth center to hospital. We'll review the results of a recent national Step Up TogetherTM Action Collaborative and hear from Birth Detroit and Henry Ford Hospital about their interdisciplinary safety planning for Detroit's first community birth center.

A flyer for Birth Center Week featuring a photo of a woman holding a newborn with another woman beside her, orchids around the border, and event details in colorful text.

How Did You Get There? Experiences of Latine Midwives in the US

The stories of Latine midwives from diverse communities across the country sharing about their paths to becoming midwives. This session is for those who speak Spanish as your first language and dream of being a midwife in a birth center and are curious about the paths of other Latine midwives in the US.

Event flyer for Birth Center Week featuring a woman with long dark hair, outdoors with rocky cliffs and blue sky, surrounded by yellow orchid flowers and green leaves. Text announces event details and highlights indigenous birth center leaders and storytelling at the event.

How Did You Get There? Wisdom from Indigenous Birth Center Leaders

Storytelling from Indigenous birth center leaders in communities across the country sharing about their paths to becoming midwives. This session is for Indigenous people who dream of being a midwife in a birth center and are curious about the paths of other Indigenous midwives in the US.

A group of four diverse women smiling outdoors, framed with pink and purple orchids and flowers, promoting Birth Center Week on September 19th with a focus on policies supporting birth centers in communities, co-sponsored by Black Mamas Matter Alliance.

Birth Centers Belong to Us: Policies to Grow Birth Centers in Our Communities, Co-Sponsored with Black Mamas Matter Alliance

This session, co-sponsored with Black Mamas Matter Alliance, we heard from leaders on how birth workers can and should raise their voices for policies to support birth centers to thrive and learn together about exciting and successful efforts to make policy change led by and accountable to our communities.

Event poster for Birth Center Week featuring an image of a baby lying on a blanket, surrounded by individuals with outstretched hands, floral decorations, and a cloudy blue background.

What does it mean to Birth with Justice?

The words “Birth Justice” resonate in the hearts and minds of millions. But the story of how birth justice was born may be less widely known. In this session, Dr. Keisha Goode, (NACPM; State University of New York (SUNY), interviews Jamarah Amani (Southern Birth Justice Network;  National Black Midwives Alliance) about the origins of birth justice and its roots in Black midwifery. 

An interior view of a theater with a large screen and rows of empty chairs, overlaid with pink orchids and text promoting Birth Center Week, September 16-20, with details about nightly premieres of birth stories from various cities.

Birth Centers Birth Stories

We debuted one Birth Center Birth Story on Monday through Friday of Birth Center Week 2024. We heard directly from five birthing people who chose to give birth at a birth center. Hear the stories of birthing people in San Diego, Detroit, Dallas, San Juan, and Los Angeles!