Calling all CPMs and others interested in the work of NACPM! You are invited to participate in our 2016 Annual Meeting this Thursday, November 7 at 2:00 pm EST. The meeting will be held on-line.
This past year, NACPM has undertaken several important initiatives, each designed to strengthen the three pillars of a viable, autonomous profession, as described by the International Confederation of Midwives: Education, Regulation, and Association. We aim to support the development of the CPM profession to better meet the urgent needs of the changing childbearing population in the U.S. and to better position CPMs to participate in the service delivery and payment models that are rapidly coming to define health care in the U.S. The annual meeting is an opportunity for us to share our vision and the values that inform our work. It is also an opportunity for you to ask questions and provide feedback to our national leadership team. Here’s what will be on the agenda:
Leadership: Manifesting Commitments
Meet out new board leadership, including co-presidents Tanya Khemet and Audrey Levine. Learn more about their commitment to cross-racial co-presidency and how it advances NACPM’s commitment to addressing the needs of our childbearing people and diversifying the midwifery workforce. Hear from Keisha Goode, public member of the NACPM Board of Directors, about the important role that public members play in advancing the profession.
NACPM provides leadership and represents CPMs in a number of formal collaborative groups and cultivates relationships with other individuals and organizations to expand our sphere of influence. Find out more about this work and how it might be replicated in your community or state.
Professional Identity, Member Engagement and Support
Continuing education is essential to the development of any profession and NACPM is deeply committed to providing educational resources. Our webinars and newsletters are constructed to address the practice, professional, and policy interests of our members and other stakeholders. Learn more about the topical threads offered this year: equity, racism and access to midwifery; legislation and public policy; midwifery practice; and midwifery education.
NACPM leadership is deeply committed to addressing the challenges of equity and the impact of racism on perinatal outcomes and to making a real difference as we work to expand and strengthen the midwifery profession. Learn how this commitment both infuses all aspects of our work and how we maintain a specific focus through workgroups, training, and outreach.
Are you one of the many CPMs who have been asking for the development of national practice guidelines? Stay-tuned — NACPM is preparing to launch a Practice Committee that will research the best-evidence available to create guidelines for CPM practice. Midwives have long been asking for just this kind of support and, after carefully examining the experience and approaches employed by other professional organizations, we are ready to move forward. Learn how you can inform the priorities for topics to be addressed in practice guidelines.
We can only expand and strengthen the profession when midwifery education is widely accessible and relevant to the needs of our childbearing population. NACPM is laying the groundwork for an analysis of our current and future midwifery workforce in order to inform our thinking about midwifery education going forward. We are also preparing to draft NACPM Core Competencies, informed by the ICM Essential Competencies. We aim to convene midwifery educators in the coming months to help us think about best practices in midwifery education, how to build on the strengths of the portfolio evaluation process and the existing formal education programs, and what it will take to grow midwifery exponentially. We continue to explore the exciting potential for competency-based, direct-assessment education programs as a promising way to expand access to education.
Infrastructure – Foundation for NACPM’s Vision and Purpose
Good financial accountability is key to any viable organization, including NACPM. We aim to be transparent about our finances, our challenges and our high level of commitment to being a financially sound organization. Review NACPM’s finances with our Treasurer.
NACPM reaches well beyond individual member dues to support our work. We have identified individuals and foundations across the country who share our vision and understand the critical nature of our work. Their contributions make our work possible. Find out more about our donors, why they support NACPM, and how you can help.
As the breadth of NACPM initiatives has grown, so has our volunteer base and staff support. Meet our national staff and learn how they work for you!