Today, NACPM joins you in celebrating the International Day of the Midwife! We are marking this special occasion by announcing the launch this year of the Bigger Table Initiative, a scholarship program to help ensure that more Black, Indigenous, and students of color can become midwives.
New NACPM Scholarship Programs - Tackling Perinatal Health Disparities by Growing a Racially Representative Midwifery Workforce
This year NACPM is launching a new set of student supports: The Bigger Table Initiative.
Since 2012, NACPM has committed to investing in a strong, racially, ethnically and socially representative CPM workforce to meet the urgent needs of childbearing people and to eliminate unconscionable racial inequities and disparities in birth outcomes for people of color, Indigenous and LGBTQIA2S+ people, and their infants. In late 2018, NACPM launched the Bigger Table Fund, which has since awarded over $39,000 to 49 students and CPMs to offset costs and barriers to midwifery by paying fees for the national certification examination and initial state licensing fees. This year, with the generous support of a $50,000 grant from Direct Relief International, NACPM is expanding into the Bigger Table Initiative, to include:
$30,000 to be awarded in 2022 to launch the new Tanya Khemet Taiwo Scholarship Fund for direct aid to Black and Indigenous midwifery students for tuition and related expenses for education. Watch this summer for more about this fund, applications for scholarships, and how you can help NACPM to grow this fund.
$15,000 to partner with the National Black Midwives Alliance (NBMA) to support their Black Midwife Mentorship Program, providing student midwives of color with mentors. This partnership will help grow both the number of students served and the stipend paid to mentors.
$5,000 additional support for the Bigger Table Fund
100th Anniversary of the International Confederation of Midwives
NACPM, as a member association of the Confederation, today proudly joins midwives around the world in celebrating the International Day of the Midwife and the 100th anniversary of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM). Today, ICM is a global non-governmental organization representing more than 140 midwives’ associations in more that 120 countries and over one million midwives worldwide.
Focusing and Promoting Inclusivity and Diversity as Core ICM Values
As the Confederation turns 100, ICM will conduct a Listening and Learning Series throughout 2022 and beyond, a collection of conversations to foster and promote inclusivity and diversity, to explore and learn together. This series will explore issues of identity, race, gender, ability and inclusion, capturing the pulse of the global midwifery community and growing from the diverse perspectives that inform our age-old profession.
Invitation to a Virtual ICM Party today, May 5, at 2:00 pm ET
Please join ICM and NACPM today at a Virtual Party, a global salute to midwives, with ICM President Dr. Franka Cadée and ICM Chief Executive, Dr. Sally Pairman. Last year, midwives from around the world showed up and danced with colleagues from every corner of the globe. Join this year’s celebration today!
NACPM wishes you all a Happy International Day of the Midwife!