DETROIT – Construction on the birthing center will fill a critical need in Detroit as the purpose-built birthing facility has become more than just a labor of love.
Birth Detroit, with the community’s help, raised millions of dollars in a little over a year to build Detroit’s first free-standing birth center.
“Because Detroit deserves it,” Birth Detroit co-founder and policy director Nicole White said.
White is one of four midwives who led and founded the nonprofit.
“We are a Black-led nonprofit organization that currently provides neighborhood-based midwifery care and childbirth education,” said founder and CEO Leseliey Welch.
They are limited in their services because they are working out of one room, but the new facility will allow them to expand their reach.
It’s a vision they’ve had since Birth Detroit was created in the middle of the pandemic.
“We started off as volunteers knowing that we needed more midwifery care in the city, and we weren’t going to stop until we got a birth center, and it’s happening,” White said.
“We’re at $3.6 million and looking to close the gap to four million by the end of this year, Welch said. “We have had support and project management from partners design-build, and city planning, and the city land bank.”
The goal is to get more people access to better birth outcomes.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) actually recommends midwives as a number one solution to maternal mortality, and what we know is only 15% of us have access to midwives in the United States,” Welch said. “With Birth Detroit, we’re trying to make available a model of care to show our communities what is possible. Midwifery is our legacy, and midwifery is our future.”
The nonprofit is also advocating for midwifery care to be covered by insurance and Medicaid.
Phase one of the project is expected to be completed in April 2024.
To donate or to learn more about Birth Detroit, visit their website here.