Advancing Equity

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation announced $771,000 in new grant funding to support 15 organizations working to improve perinatal health across Massachusetts through its Perinatal Health Initiative, a multi-year program aimed at reducing racial inequities in perinatal health outcomes.

Now in its second cycle, the multi-year Perinatal Health Initiative grant program is part of the foundation’s broader strategy of grantmaking and policy analysis aimed at better understanding and disrupting structural racism and broadening health equity.

Building on the foundation’s 2024 effort, the two-year program was shaped by insights from community partners, fellow funders, and an ongoing assessment of the perinatal health landscape. Seven of the organizations funded in 2025 are continuing grantees from the foundation’s initial cohort to deepen their impact through this next phase. The grants support organizations providing community-based perinatal education and support, expanding the perinatal workforce, and policy advocacy.

“These organizations are creating lasting improvements in perinatal health by expanding access to culturally responsive care and centering community voices.”

“These organizations are creating lasting improvements in perinatal health by expanding access to culturally responsive care and centering community voices,” said Audrey Shelto, president and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. “Their work exemplifies the power of community-based leadership in achieving health equity.”

The foundation’s board of directors approved two-year grants ranging from $25,000 to $60,000 for each of the following nonprofit organizations and their projects:

• Accompany Doula Care, Boston, which will partner with Health Leads and collaborate with healthcare systems, advocates, and providers to launch a cross-sector workgroup to increase equitable maternal health outcomes by integrating doulas into clinical care teams and creating supportive hospital policies;

• Berkshire Nursing Families, to expand the organization’s support of families who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color in Berkshire County by launching perinatal education programs, training new staff to become certified lactation counselors, and building a diverse workforce;

• Family Health Center of Worcester, to expand the capacity of its OB Advocates program, which connects community members with trained and culturally aligned doulas during pregnancy through two years postpartum;

• First Teacher Boston, which will integrate its pilot perinatal health program into its community-based parent education for Black and Brown families in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan, offering year-round workshops, infant-focused resources, and professional development for staff in perinatal care;

• Greater Lowell Health Alliance of CHNA 10, which will build upon its Doula Academy to expand, diversify, and increase skills of the local perinatal workforce in the Lowell area;

• Greenfield Community College Foundation, to create Massachusetts’ first public certified professional midwives accredited training program to increase access to a pipeline of trained, licensed midwives and expand community birth options;

• It Takes a Village, Huntington, which will partner with the Green River Doula Network to provide community-led perinatal education, perinatal mood and anxiety disorder prevention, labor preparation, postpartum care, breastfeeding support, peer-led support circles, and extended home visits for historically marginalized families in Western Mass.;

• Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which will support the Mind the Gap Coalition’s statewide advocacy to strengthen perinatal mental health policies and align efforts across the continuum from prenatal to infancy;

• Nantucket Community School, to increase access to childbirth education and lactation supports by providing classes and training three instructors from Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities and those fluent in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese;

• Neighborhood Birth Center, Roxbury, to educate public health experts, policy makers, and payers regarding issues to advance midwifery education, workforce development, and access to birth centers, and lead a campaign to promote equitable reimbursement for licensed midwives and birth center facilities;

• North Quabbin Health Collaborative, Orange, which will expand one-to-one nurse visits for families up to one-year postpartum in rural and structurally marginalized communities in the towns of Orange, New Salem, Petersham, Warwick, and Wendell, providing health education programs, screening, and referrals;

• Propa City Community Outreach, Roxbury, which will implement a community-centered initiative focused on perinatal loss, expanding access to healing-centered education, connecting families and care providers across Massachusetts, and reducing isolation for families experiencing loss;

• Sacred Birthing Village, New Bedford, to train 12 multi-ethnic and linguistically diverse women in Southeastern Mass. to provide doula care and prepare them to meet state certification requirements for MassHealth-covered services;

• Worcester Addresses Childhood Trauma, which will partner with Worcester Public Health to deliver culturally responsive perinatal education, public awareness campaigns, and events guided by the Citywide Black and Brown Maternal Health Work Plan; and

• Worcester RISE for Health, to strengthen its Maternal Care Access program for refugee and immigrant communities by providing practice-based mentorship for doulas and developing a centralized referral system and wraparound supports.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation will continue to collaborate with other foundations working in perinatal health to collectively learn, align philanthropic efforts, and elevate local leadership and community-led solutions to advance birth equity in Massachusetts.