CLEVELAND — A local non-profit is working to improve Cleveland's status of being the worst city for Black women by offering a new option for expectant mothers.
It may be just a vacant lot now, but soon the land at the intersection of East 65th Street and Chester Avenue in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood will be home to something designed for expectant Black mothers. It will be Northeast Ohio’s only freestanding community-led, Black-led birthing center, according to the non-profit Birthing Beautiful Communities, which is behind the up-and-coming birthing center, which has been in the works since 2017.
B.B.C. President and CEO Jazmin Long told News 5’s Courtney Gousman this center has been a dream for them to achieve.
Courtney has done a number of stories with B.B.C., which offers free doulas to expectant mothers in Cuyahoga and Summitt Counties, in order to help address the area’s high maternal and infant mortality rates, particularly among Black women and babies.
Long told Courtney the birthing center will span 10,000 square feet, featuring floor-to-ceiling glass. Inside, there will be at least three birthing suits outfitted with mood lighting and tubs.
“I've been describing this as something we’ve never seen in our region. Something there are very few across the country that we’re going to be able to bring right here to our own backyard,” Long said.
Long told Courtney this birthing center will be centered around expectant mothers who want to have a more natural birthing experience with low medical intervention, meaning no epidurals,
no anesthesia, and no surgeries.
Midwives will run this birthing center with the help of B.B.C.’s doulas.
“They may even want to birth at home but can’t afford the cost of a certified professional midwife or a certified nurse midwife to come to their home and do a home birth. This is an alternative because we will be able to accept insurance, and we’ll also be able to accept Medicaid payments as well, ” Long said.
Long said about 85% of pregnant women are able to have low-intervention births.
“We want to be able to provide women with a space to not feel stressed. To be able to know they’re going to deliver their baby and come home with their child as well,” Long said.
In addition to serving as a birthing center, this facility will also offer pre and postnatal visits as well as gynecological care for all women.
The project is expected to carry a price tag of $12 million. In May, we told you about the million dollars in ARPA funds Cleveland City Council designated for this birthing center.
“This is what city council put aside to put toward catalytic projects in neighborhoods because we believe this deals with the triple bottom. You have an environmental impact. You get to beautify a blighted corner in the city of Cleveland,” said City Council President Blaine Griffin. “You have a social impact because you’re dealing with infant mortality and trying to address infant mortality, and then you have an economic impact. We’re going to have people that we put to work to build the building, as well as the people my good friend Jazmin will hire to work in the building.”
Long said the city is also making strides to aid Black, expecting mothers through their support for the center.
“City council really made a powerful statement and the mayor’s office by allocating $1 million in funding toward this project and then also pledging to support us in helping to raise the rest of the funds needed to get this done, in a city that has been ranked the worst large metropolitan city for Black women, to show that they are acknowledging that and to make steps to help improve that,” Long said.
The birthing center is slated to open in May of 2025.
B.B.C. will have partnerships with area hospitals for women who may end up needing an elevated level of medical care.
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