Community-Governed Knowledge & Policy Infrastructure for Birth Justice Empowering Communities to Advance Equitable Maternal Health Policies <!DOCTYPE html>
Empowering Communities to Advance Equitable Maternal Health Policies
Understanding the Need for Systems Change
Black women experience significantly higher maternal mortality rates than other groups, highlighting urgent health disparities driven by systemic healthcare inequities and social determinants of health. Addressing these disparities requires systemic change to achieve equitable birth justice.
Impacted communities have restricted roles in shaping what counts as valid maternal health evidence. Excluding lived experiences creates significant gaps in understanding maternal health disparities, resulting in inadequate responses that fail to address real community needs.
Current research models omit valuable insights from community members, with centralized institutional control limiting diverse perspectives. Overreliance on quantitative data restricts fuller understanding of complex maternal health issues, while published harm often goes unaccountable.
A Revolutionary Paradigm Shift
Academia
generates research and evidence
Community
becomes research subjects
Policy
developed externally, limiting community agency
Community
generates knowledge and defines evidence
Evidence
community insights inform robust evidence creation
Policy
driven by community-controlled evidence
Academia participates as invited collaborators, maintaining accountability to community leadership
Building a Community-Governed Ecosystem
"Celebrating the beauty, strength, and wisdom of Black motherhood—
centering lived experiences as the foundation for birth justice"
Communities generate evidence based on their unique experiences and priorities. RBSI supports translating community knowledge into actionable policy measures for real-world impact.
Community control ensures knowledge creation is led and governed by the community itself. Data stewardship involves responsible management aligned with community values, with ethical use and transparency promoting cultural relevance.
RBSI focuses on equipping community leaders with skills for effective governance and sustained impact, maintaining stable governance systems that uphold community values and support birth justice over time.
A Dual-Program Approach
RBEN
Reimagining what counts as evidence in birth and reproductive health through a reproductive justice lens. Communities are the primary knowledge holders and interpreters of their own birth and reproductive experiences.
Community-Rooted Policy Leadership
Policy advocacy must be led by those most impacted, using evidence generated by and for their own communities. This non-extractive approach is distinct from traditional internships and academic pipelines.
Expanding the Reparative Birth Evidence Network
A Planned Reparative Birth Evidence Network Study
This proposed 18-month community assessment would document how Charlottesville's 25-year housing crisis—rooted in historic Black displacement through urban renewal and intensified by gentrification—creates a predictable and preventable risk environment for pregnant and postpartum people, especially Black women.
Using the RBEN framework, this study would position pregnant and postpartum people who have experienced housing instability as primary knowledge producers rather than research subjects. The Survivor Advisory Circle would own all data, lead all analysis, and control all dissemination.
The study would document the complete sequence from generational housing displacement through pregnancy-work conflicts to birth harm and intergenerational continuation—demonstrating that housing instability during pregnancy is not merely an economic stressor but a documented contributor to adverse birth outcomes that falls disproportionately on Black women.
A proposed Survivor Advisory Circle (8-12 pregnant/postpartum people who experienced housing instability) would have final decision-making power over research questions, data collection, analysis, dissemination, and all partnerships. Community members would be the primary knowledge producers, not research subjects.
Would employ Sacred Story Circles, in-depth interviews, community photovoice, and birth outcomes analysis—all led by those most impacted. This is not research ON communities. This is knowledge BY communities. This is power building through truth-telling.
Participants feel heard and valued. Findings ring true to lived experience. Study builds community power. Evidence drives community-determined solutions. No harm caused by participation.
Survivor Advisory Circle owns all data—legal, material, and intellectual ownership. Partners access data only with explicit Circle approval for specific, limited purposes. Circle can revoke access immediately if agreement violated.
Fair compensation for expertise. Evidence supports community-determined solutions. Builds community capacity for ongoing knowledge production. Challenges systems that caused the crisis. Contributes to intergenerational healing through truth-telling.
We examine systemic failures and community resistance, not individual shortcomings. Did we challenge systems or reinforce them? Did we build survivor power or extract their stories? Did we center community solutions or academic theories?
"This is not research ON communities. This is knowledge BY communities. This is power building through truth-telling. This is reparation through community sovereignty."
— Charlottesville Maternal Housing Instability Community Assessment Framework
This study would establish Charlottesville as a national model for community-controlled research on housing and maternal health, creating an irrefutable case for systems change while building infrastructure for ongoing community knowledge sovereignty.
"A community commitment to protecting pregnant and postpartum people from the harm of housing instability"
The community assessment findings would lay the groundwork for Charlottesville to become Virginia's first Maternal Sanctuary City—a community where pregnant and postpartum people are recognized as deserving special protection from housing displacement during the critical perinatal period.
This vision represents a fundamental reframing: housing stability during pregnancy and postpartum is not a luxury or individual responsibility—it is a birth equity imperative with direct, measurable impacts on maternal and infant health.
The community assessment would provide the evidence base for this vision, documenting the harms of housing instability while centering community wisdom about solutions. Whether through policy change, community programs, or cultural transformation, the goal is clear: no birthing person in Charlottesville should face housing displacement during pregnancy or the first year postpartum.
From community-controlled research to community-determined action—building the future where birth equity and housing justice are inseparable.
Infrastructure for Community Governance
Fiscal sponsorship delivers vital legal structure, helping projects stay compliant and protected from risks that could harm sustainability.
Sponsors manage complex financial and regulatory tasks, providing an administrative buffer for projects to focus on their mission.
While sponsors support advocacy and compliance, the community keeps control over project direction and content.
Concise, policy-ready briefs that empower decision-makers with clear, implementable recommendations.
A cohort of trained community policy leaders driving meaningful changes in maternal health and advocacy.
Virginia's strengthened maternal health advocacy becomes a replicable model, amplifying best practices across communities nationwide.
Protecting Innovation & Community Authority
The training curriculum is safeguarded to preserve expertise and maintain high standards within the organization.
Policy strategies designed to ensure all practices align with ethical guidelines and organizational values.
Evidence translation protocols ensure valuable knowledge is transferred responsibly and securely.
Empowering collective decision-making while promoting transparency without risking sensitive information.
Building Community-Governed Justice Together
We welcome fiscal sponsors, funders, academic institutions, healthcare systems, and policy organizations committed to authentic community sovereignty and birth justice.
Project Timeline: 36 Months
Target Budget: TBD
Geographic Focus: Virginia (with replication potential)
Fiscal Sponsor: Elephant Circle
Confidentiality Notice: This initiative contains proprietary and confidential information about innovative community participatory research methodologies and policy advocacy frameworks. Partnership discussions require signed Non-Disclosure Agreements and formal partnership proposals demonstrating commitment to community ownership and control.
Visual Identity: RBSI honors and centers the beauty of Black motherhood through vibrant, culturally-grounded visual storytelling. Our communications celebrate the strength, wisdom, and sacred nature of birth experiences in Black communities.