WEBVTT - Black Maternal Health Awareness Week 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.480 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:19.040 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody still in the Brooklyn Bunker, Folks, 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.640 I am really excited to bring to you this Friday 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:27.720 a really great conversation on as it happens to be 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:33.519 Black Maternal Health Week. What is Black Maternal Health Week? Well, folks, 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:35.360 I don't know if you remember, but a couple of 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:41.599 years ago, when tennis superstar Serena Williams gave birth to 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:46.360 her daughter, she had a harrowing, harrowing experience in the 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:50.680 hospital that almost cost her her life. And why was that? 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:54.400 It was because Serena, who very much knew her body 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:59.040 and knew that something was wrong as she was in 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.680 the birthing problem, says, asked the doctors and the nurses 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.520 present to give her the care and medicine that she 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:11.360 needed because she suffers from a condition where she has 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.600 a series of blood clots which are can be life threatening, 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:23.080 and she was ignored and it took multiple ass to 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.840 get her the care that she needed. Thank god, obviously 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.800 she did. But too many, too many Black women who 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:33.400 don't have the wealth, don't have the fame, are ignored 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:38.520 and because of that, they die. Three hundred black babies 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:43.320 die every year in the wealthiest country, one of supposedly 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:48.360 the wealthiest countries in the industrialized world. How is that? 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.920 How is that not a national alarm that is set 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:58.480 off to talk about this very preventable pandemic that is 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:05.280 experienced in the black community. And so today I'm really 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:12.519 excited to have a conversation on both ends, both a 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:20.640 woman who is creating a birthing center in eastern Massachusetts 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:25.920 that is dedicated to the health and well being of 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:30.840 black and brown women, and moving outside of upstetrics and 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:36.600 back into the tradition of midwiffery and dulas. We love 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:41.520 to believe nowadays that that is considered alternative medicine. Meanwhile, 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:47.200 you'll hear in the interview that I have with Nishira that, oh, well, 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.520 that is how my mother was born, my aunts, my 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:56.360 uncle's all at the hands of my great grandmother in Jamaica. 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.880 And many of us have that story right with our family, 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.840 with our grandmothers and our great grandmothers. And yet by 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:08.760 virtue of capitalism and white supremacy and the pharmaceutical industry 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.720 and all of these things, we've allowed them to move 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.880 us away from what was, as Nashira will say, a 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.920 very safe and sacred practice. And so what does it 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:25.880 mean then to find a way to return to what 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:30.239 we know is time and test it right. Later then 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.480 I will have a conversation with doctor Mkiba McCreary, who 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.960 is the new president of a fund that was put 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:45.000 together by black executives in Massachusetts to lead on issues 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:50.640 such as black maternity health and to look at the 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:54.440 capital that they have built in their own careers and 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:58.160 come together as a collective to take on issues and 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:05.240 areas that white fillianthropy has failed right or neglected to address. So, folks, 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.280 I hope that you enjoy these two in depth interviews 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:14.920 on this feel good Friday after a long and arduous week, 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.719 I wanted to end with some hopefulness, some realness right 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.479 in terms of what black women and women of color 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:26.719 face in this country who are on a birthing journey 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.000 and what they are up against, but also what is 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:37.320 being done right solution oriented in thinking about here's the problem, 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.880 but here are people that are working to alleviate that issue. 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:45.239 So I hope that you enjoy the upcoming interviews. Drop 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.640 me a note and the comment section and let me 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.480 know how this landed for you. If you are a 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:55.520 person that has their own birthing story, have you shared 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.280 it right? Was it something that you felt like you 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.000 could share that there was safe space to do so? 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:08.880 Please do share with us in the comments section. Folks. 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.920 I'm very excited to welcome to wok a F for 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:16.599 the very first time, Nashira Barrell, who is a director 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:22.120 of Boston's Neighborhood Birth Center. And you know, I think 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:29.120 that during Black Women's Maternity Week, right, it's always an 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.200 opportunity to one, I think, talk about the healing side 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:36.400 and the transition that black women and women of color 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:42.680 have made from your traditional birthing inside hospitals and what 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.640 have you, but also to talk about the fact that 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:51.800 black women still die right in giving birth more so 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.920 than any other any other demographic. It doesn't matter that 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.599 you know, the United States is quote unquote one of 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:02.839 the wealthiest nations, that this is still a major issue. 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:07.880 And I remember, right as I'm certain you did, listening 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:11.720 to Serena Williams's story a couple of years ago. This 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:17.160 amazing world renowned athlete, wealthiest woman, all of these things, 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:22.719 and she's in pain during labor and being ignored tell 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.359 having being told that what she's feeling, she doesn't know 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:31.800 what she needs. It's normal. And I think to myself, 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.560 my God, if she hadn't been Serena Williams, she would 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.760 have ended up as a statistic. Can you talk to 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:43.239 us about why we still need to have these conversations 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:47.039 and then the work that you do to make birthing 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.080 safe and not only safe but like the miracle, and 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.479 then the enjoyment and the connection and the alignment that 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:58.920 it should really be m Thanks Daniel, thanks so much 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.920 for having me. Yeah, not only safe but sacred is 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.920 is our goal? Right, And one of the guiding questions 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.000 for us here at Neighborhood Birth Center is like, what's 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:14.480 possible for us collectively, not just like the family, the community, 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.480 but but the big we, all of us, our planet 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:23.120 when we get birthright, when we really invest in UM, 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.480 in all systems, in particular in the healthcare and maternal 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.440 healthcare system UM and get birthright. And I'm one to 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.920 say I think that we can correct for public health outcomes, 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.040 the economy and climate change, So I just like I 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:39.000 want to start there. I think we want to work 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:43.400 birth to be safe and sacred. Um. Yeah, and thanks 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.760 for you know, I mean, I think that the the 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.320 there's this tension, right that we want to both like um, 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:55.160 explicitly name the way that the the crisis of maternal 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.560 health in this country is not working well for anyone 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.440 and is in bar is down the worst on black 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:05.680 birthing folks and black women in particular, and that has, 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:09.000 you know, so much to do with the healthcare system 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.040 and the ways that you know, healthcare system is rooted 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:17.720 in inequity and white supremacy culture and racism, and also 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.280 the intersection of all the other systems, right, so the 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.800 ways that it is inherently kind of like unhealthy to 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.920 be black and female in this country, and that that 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:32.160 bears on our reproductive systems and ways that result in 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.000 bad outcomes. And but I want to go back to 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:37.920 one thing you said though at the beginning, which is 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.040 like kind of the traditional I think you said about 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.400 the traditional ways of birthing, and I actually just call 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:48.000 us into like what is traditional traditional birthing particular Black 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:52.280 traditions is midwifery and humber right, right, And so in 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.320 some ways, as somebody who identify as a black woman, 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.600 I've given birth at home twice with midwives, and I 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:02.520 hear all the time, oh, you have the most you know, alternative, 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.760 the most non traditional birth, and you know, like, actually, 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:10.160 let's pause there and think about what is maybe the 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.640 most traditional way to give birth. And so, in a 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:16.199 lot of ways, what we're doing to bring community based 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:21.600 Midwiffree back into our neighborhood and into our community is 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.840 a reclaiming of Midwiffree and a remembering of what it 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:29.480 is that our ancestors knew so well before Midwiffree became 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.680 racially redlined and the growth of obstetrics and that became 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.560 you know, dominated by white supremacy culture and white men 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.280 and big institutions and payers like, we have known how 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:46.240 to how to catch babies and how to birth babies forever, 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.880 and so I think just kind of them. A big 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.040 part of our work is around that narrative shift and 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.439 that remembering, because as we work to open the first 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.960 birth center here in Boston, and to do so, you know, 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.360 led by black folks and in a in a in 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.040 a black neighborhood in Boston, we want to make sure 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:05.959 that you know, in part of what we're doing is 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.199 like bringing folks along to say this is not white 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.360 women's stuff, and we're trying to you know, do an 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.280 autom hospital birth and a crunchy birth center like this 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.520 is you know, this belongs to all of our ancestors, 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.000 and so that remembering is an important piece of our work, 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.199 is to reframe. You know. I love that you call 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.560 it a remembering because as you're as you were speaking, 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:31.960 I was reminded of the fact that my great grandmother, 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:36.480 my family is from Jamaica, my great grandmother birth all 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:42.600 of my aunts and uncles and my mother. Um uh. 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.200 And what I learned as I as I got, as 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.400 I was older and you know, able to ask a 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:53.079 lot more questions, was she was the midwife for her town. Yes, 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:58.600 and knew how to turn babies, um and you know, 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:04.199 an aid women who were in need, and that that 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:08.400 was just a part of life. And I think that, 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:10.559 you know, as I was listening to you, that a part, 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.160 you know, not one, not a small part, but one 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:16.280 of the major parts of white supremacy is a detaching 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.600 from your story and a detaching from your lineage in 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:25.960 a way that juxtaposes it against whiteness and Eurocentric values 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.439 and anything that is that falls outside of that framework. 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.520 Then somehow is less then, so we move from this 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.040 space as you're as you're saying from you know what, Oh, 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:41.040 it's so alternative. No, the actual Actually, to your point, 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:47.079 the alternative was obstetrics. The alternative was hospitals. The alternative 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:53.520 was presenting a capitalist industry around something that should be sacred. 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:59.640 That's right, that's right. How do you go about your 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:07.280 work in trying to reattach our original narrative? How do 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:12.880 you bring this story of our ancestry and our history 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:18.040 two people who have been robbed of it? Thank you 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.040 for that question. It is central to our work. We're 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.080 working to open a birth center, and I often say 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.840 that as much as we are working on a business 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:31.040 plan and a nonprofit structure and real estate acquisition, the 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.599 third leg of our school is narrative and community engagement 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.959 and really community organizing around this. And I think one 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.240 of the things that has been really key for us 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:50.200 is a commitment to intergenerational healing, right that like, because 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:53.480 so it's the remembering, as you said, like we like 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:55.040 I said a thing and then you're like, oh, yeah, 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.600 my grandmother in Jamaica, Right, So there's that, and it 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.000 happens like that, and we're just like, you know, everybody 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.920 great grandmother was born at home, and everyone's like, oh, yeah, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.720 you're right. But then the other thing is like, I 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:07.840 have friends who are you know, my age, who have 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.280 come to me interested in out of hospital birth. We 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.360 have no birth centers in eastern Massachusetts, so they're often 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.840 asked for asking about home birth, and um, I'll talk 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:18.840 to him about home birth and they say, you know, Nash, 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:23.040 I'm down. It's just that she's not she's scared, she's 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.240 not going to support me, she's you know. And so 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.080 I think that the conversations that need to happen where 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:32.360 the grandmother is done childbearing but is the matriarch of 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:37.560 the family and has experienced her own trauma and lost 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.200 right that the data that you started the conversation with 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.360 like that is that's not our people. So when we 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.440 talk about the health outcomes, we can't do it in 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.840 a way that's detached from saying everybody knows somebody who 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.040 has had, you know, a bad outcome, which is how 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.839 we talk about in public health, right, and so an 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.280 infant who has you know, diet, been born prematurely, or 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.680 you know, or or any other outcome an emergency C section, 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.120 you know, some blood loss like something that so that 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.719 so the trauma is very real. And so I think 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.840 in our work to bring people along, and I you know, 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.319 I don't always like try to try to correct everyone 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.240 when they say it's alternative, but they're like, oh, that's 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:21.080 really alternative. Yeah, So let's talk about one how it 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:23.600 got that way. Ye talk about the history of how 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.640 midwood Free got so white. It wasn't right, and it 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:28.520 was it was legislated that way, it was made that 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:33.040 way through policy. And too, let's have an intergenerational conversation 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.800 because again, the childbearing age folks might be like knocking 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.120 at our door when the birth center opens next year, 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.960 but it's their mother and their grandmother and the other 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.240 elders in their lives or their do you know their 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.960 peers who have had bad outcomes or known somebody who 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.440 has who says I don't know, right, And so I 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.440 think it's like, um, part of our work is not 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.440 just about the people who will you know, be o 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.640 our clients at the birth center who will give birth there, 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:01.960 but it's our whole community has to heal. We are 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:05.960 carrying the trauma of generations of bad outcomes and so 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:10.000 having a space to talk about that, and like I 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.680 did when we were doing some early kind of needs 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:16.880 assessment around the birth center. We did some key informant 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:21.960 interviews and stakeholder circles, and I remember asking these questions 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.920 about people's birth story and this several I mean, they 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.720 were very emotionally charged. And somebody who said, you know, 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.600 my kid is seventeen years old, and nobody has ever 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.280 asked me about my birth experience. She said, this is 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.960 the first place where I am because you get home 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.000 and you have a healthy baby, and all the focuses 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.560 at least you know, like that's like the bars, like 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.320 you survived right, the lower right, and that's why you 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:48.240 can't You don't get to complain about anything. And whether 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:50.560 you had you know, a hard time the postpartum period 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:55.240 or any or lactation breastfeeding was hard, but she said 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:57.720 she wept. She said, to gosh, nobody's ever asked me 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.160 about that. And so we're holding and then asked we 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.040 talked about it? She said, oh, I can remember not 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.800 feeling listened too. I can remember telling them I head pain. 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.520 I can remember asking if it was normal to be 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.720 bleeding night. This I can remember, right, And so I 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:16.960 think that part of it is, I think the remembering 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.440 of that but in a container that is held. You know, 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.440 we are not trying to like take anybody out by 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:25.400 having them relive their trauma, but to tend to those 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.840 wounds because they're with us, and they can be the 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.120 thing where that auntie who has a seventy year old 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.200 now is going to say to the they're nibbling their 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.040 you know, whoever's pregnant in their life. Oh, I don't 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:38.640 know about that midwifferything. Because so if we can like 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:43.480 bring them into a loving container to kind of heal 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.640 from the stuff that we hold collectively and the stuff 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:52.080 that we've taken from media, all the stuff we've downloaded. 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.640 I mean, have you ever seen a rom com with 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.960 an orgasmic birth or a home birth? No, we see 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.800 all these like harrowing, you know, screaming images. And so 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.000 I think we've got collectively, like a lot of healing 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.080 and reconciling to do. And I think that that happens 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:11.240 through you know, kitchen table conversations and story story circles 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.480 and when we can gather safely again. We cannot wait 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.680 to do some open mic nights and just invite people 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:24.119 to heal kind of collectively through storytelling. You know, part 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:29.280 of this too outside of and not as if we 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.120 can actually move outside of the white supremacis lens. But 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:37.200 part of this too is the fact that birthing people 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:42.560 keep their cold, their trauma to themselves. I have so 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:47.919 many friends who have given birth, probably in the last 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:55.200 five years, and their stories vary, but not in their 0:17:55.320 --> 0:18:02.080 degree of trauma. Right so, and and they have expressed 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.159 to me as a as a person who does not 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:08.360 have children, because they feel like they can share and 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:13.120 not be judged and and and not feel like a failure, 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:16.959 feel like their bodies didn't do something right. I had 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:23.280 a friend who was um struggling with breastfeeding and of course, uh, 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.879 you know is feeling like my body is letting me down, 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.639 you know type of thing, and again feeling that you 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:32.960 can confide in me because I'm not going to then 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.000 offer my you know, like a whole weighted opinion. I'm 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.639 just there, like you said, as a container to to 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.280 hold to hold her feelings. And so how do you 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:51.040 speak to that about breaking down this kind of the silence, 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:56.720 the silence on part of the struggle, right that everyone 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:02.359 doesn't get the lush, glowing, growing hair and fingernails. That 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.080 people lose their hair and you know, and and have 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.359 terrible acne and are in excruciating pain, and it isn't 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.400 this glorious thing. So that does that mean that they 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.800 are less, you know, less then for that? Or should 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.959 they be made to feel alone? So how do you 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.320 how do you go about, you know, in the creation 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:28.359 of this of this sacred space, breaking down that silence 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.399 and that j and that judgment. Yeah, well, one, I 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.639 thank you for being that friend. We all need to 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:37.480 have that friend that we can go to. And I 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.000 think I want to add another place where the silence 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:43.240 comes into, which is around loss. There's a cultural thing 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.000 where we don't tell anyone we're pregnant until we pass 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:50.480 the first trimester because because if we're more likely to 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:52.720 lose the pregnancy in the first trimester, and then it's 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:54.520 as if it didn't happen. I'm like, oh no, I'm 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:56.399 telling you the minute I find out, so that if 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.320 I have a loss, you can hold that with me. 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.160 That is Yeah, it's not a deeply rooted practice of 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:06.080 like silencing our trauma and our loss. Right then it's 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.000 totally normal. I've had a couple of miscarriages. We don't 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:11.080 talk about it. I might talk about all the time 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:13.760 because it's part of saying like, you know, this whole 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:16.280 idea that we wait to tell is it? Just like 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.280 I wanted to bring that in as another way that 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:20.680 we kind of like silence it a abortion, Like God, 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:22.119 we don't want to talk about that, right, We've had 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.360 a couple of those two like, we just don't talk 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.119 about that. And so I think that um to the 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.960 to the how we break that I think is is 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:37.320 is the vulnerability you know is and doing so um, 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.160 you know, in small experiments with people, I think it's 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.800 one thing to like, you know, be out on Instagram 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:45.080 talking about it. And blessed are those who are like 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.280 kind of telling the deal story out there, um and 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:51.159 also just experimenting because the minute we say it to 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:53.920 somebody else, they're like, oh, I had a miscarriage too, 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:56.600 Oh I had you know, a hard time breasting too. 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.960 And so I think that, um, it is a cold 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:04.080 clatural thing, the silence thing and the kind of perfectionism 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:08.119 around it and the shaming that we do, you know, 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.560 in the community of people who birth to others about 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:14.400 you know, did you have a c section, like there 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.720 is no right or wrong way to birth a baby, 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.920 and reproductive justice is choosing when and if and where 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.520 and how you to if you do. And so I think, um, 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.120 I would just say, it's kind of like experimenting with 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:30.439 you know, small tribes of folks that we feel like 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:32.560 we can get get real and get raw with, and 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:35.359 then having you know, the small is all right, and 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.919 then letting those those little cultural patterns between you and 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:42.360 two friends reverberate out. And I think the other thing 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:44.160 and one of the things that I think about a lot. 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:46.919 I was just saying this to a local artist who 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:49.600 I'm hoping to work with on like a series of 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:53.159 like you know, I'll call them greeting cards because I 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.479 cannot stand going to the pharmacy to buy a card 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.440 for a baby shower, but they are because I don't 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.159 like those cards either. But there's certainly no cards for loss. 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:06.480 There's certainly no cards. Yeah, you know, if you're an abortion, 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:08.359 whether it was one you chose or one you had 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:11.439 to have, what, there's certain there's no cards for you know, 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:18.200 like the realness all of the pregnant. Yeah, Like like 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.080 when you go into labor, may you feel you know 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:23.639 the power and so I just like I I have 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:25.879 a dream of, like, you know, creating a line of 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:27.879 cards like that because I love that. We also have 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:30.600 to do culturally is like be saying to you, like, 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:33.679 you know, you got this right and we got you 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.520 and I think that you know all of that. In 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:39.760 some ways the silence is replicated by by the greeting 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:41.959 card aisle because the things that we're supposed to applaud 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:44.399 you for and cheers it's boy, are there and the 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:46.960 other things are not there. So even if you wanted 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:49.919 to send a card when somebody had a loss a 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:53.200 culturally they're not even out there. No, And I think 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:56.320 that that's so right, and I you know, again it 0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:00.840 is really around the silence around it all that then 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:04.600 produces the shame which has us, you know, passing on 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:09.119 generations of trauma as opposed to being able to be 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:11.399 in a place you know, we we you know, in 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:15.080 our lexicon now we say normalize this and normalize that, 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:18.600 But I don't actually think that we put the activity 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:23.440 behind the normalize that we are saying, right, because part 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:27.840 of normalization means continued discussion. It isn't just something that 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:30.440 is one and done and you know, to your point 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:33.479 about folks on social media, I will say, you know, 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:37.600 celebrity is can be a great thing and a bad thing. 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:45.520 Chrissy Teagan who you know, wife of John Legend, you know, supermodel, chef, 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:49.440 all of those things. She had announced her third pregnancy, 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:51.760 you know every you know, it was covered in like 0:23:51.920 --> 0:23:58.280 People magazine and then traumatically, uh loses the baby and 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:00.960 instead and then you had then and she was very 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:04.480 public and as a remain public about that loss and 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:08.040 mourning that loss and having a funeral for that baby, 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:12.119 and like having you know, her kids understanding the in 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:15.560 the spiritual tradition that she was raised in, you know, 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:18.959 what it means to honor the dead. And you know, 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:22.200 there were people who came out because people love to hate, 0:24:22.480 --> 0:24:24.359 and they came out They're just like, why can't you 0:24:24.400 --> 0:24:27.480 just mourn in private? Like why is she looking for attention? 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:30.280 And you know, and so I want to ask you, like, 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:33.960 do you feel by virtue of like doing an open 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:35.919 mic or doing these things that people are gonna be 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:38.480 like this is supposed to be private and why why 0:24:38.520 --> 0:24:41.160 does everything have to be public? Like what is your 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:50.439 pushback to that? I'm like, y'all have to come because 0:24:50.440 --> 0:24:53.880 I think that the right right, right, right, you know. 0:24:54.320 --> 0:24:57.880 But but I think that it will be more impactful 0:24:58.000 --> 0:25:02.240 and healing. It'll be impactful and healing to more people 0:25:02.720 --> 0:25:04.960 than it will to those one or two who are 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:08.440 who you know, have not yet seen how their liberation 0:25:08.600 --> 0:25:10.760 is bound to the storytelling and the liberation of that 0:25:10.800 --> 0:25:14.960 person who's speaking. Right, Maybe you've never been pregnant, don't 0:25:14.960 --> 0:25:17.360 intend to be, never had a loss, never, But if 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:20.439 you can't kind of see your humanity reflected in that person, 0:25:21.160 --> 0:25:24.320 then you know, um, love and light. But like, what 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:26.879 we're trying to do is really for for the collective, 0:25:27.040 --> 0:25:29.920 and so I think that, um, I really haven't thought 0:25:29.920 --> 0:25:34.159 about my pushback to those particular nisayers. I mean, I 0:25:34.200 --> 0:25:38.360 think that we we get a lot of I get 0:25:38.400 --> 0:25:41.639 a lot of pushback already right in the communities of 0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:44.240 color that are like, well, you know, is it safe 0:25:44.280 --> 0:25:47.080 and you know, what about when something goes wrong and 0:25:47.080 --> 0:25:50.199 what and so we we have so much work to 0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:54.520 do that I think I'm excited to take I'll call 0:25:54.560 --> 0:25:57.080 it take the risk of doing that storytelling and that 0:25:57.160 --> 0:26:00.280 open mic to bring to bring you know, ninety son 0:26:00.320 --> 0:26:02.520 of people along, even if a few people say, you 0:26:02.560 --> 0:26:05.480 know that that shouldn't happen because this is at the 0:26:05.560 --> 0:26:07.760 end of the day, and yelle, this is about our 0:26:07.840 --> 0:26:13.879 our our bound liberation and and like generations ahead and 0:26:14.000 --> 0:26:17.080 so UM, you know, I just know that like at 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:19.560 the root of this, I'm trying to get free. I'm 0:26:19.560 --> 0:26:23.080 trying to get my people free. And UM, I guess 0:26:23.080 --> 0:26:26.640 if people you know feel like that should happen in 0:26:26.640 --> 0:26:31.280 in uh in quiet, they're not trying to get free 0:26:31.320 --> 0:26:33.760 yet and they're not ready and that's okay, But we're not, 0:26:33.920 --> 0:26:36.879 you know, free in a way that is absolutely okay. 0:26:37.760 --> 0:26:43.080 Tell folks, UM how if they want to support the 0:26:43.119 --> 0:26:47.280 development of UM your the birthing center, they want to 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:50.960 get involved, they want more information. Please tell the woke 0:26:50.960 --> 0:26:55.320 Apple audience how they can participate and learn more. Yes, 0:26:55.480 --> 0:26:59.520 thank you. So UM we are online at um Neighborhood 0:26:59.560 --> 0:27:03.080 birth Center dot org. We're also on social media at 0:27:03.119 --> 0:27:07.000 Neighborhood Birth Center. And we are at a point right 0:27:07.000 --> 0:27:09.320 now where we are in a capital campaign. We're raising 0:27:09.840 --> 0:27:13.000 three million dollars to open the city's first birth center 0:27:13.080 --> 0:27:15.879 and as I said, the only one in eastern Massachusetts. 0:27:16.400 --> 0:27:19.920 And on some days it feels like a huge raise 0:27:20.119 --> 0:27:23.080 right every because every ten dollar donation makes me still 0:27:23.080 --> 0:27:25.200 feel like, oh my gosh, people are really supporting this 0:27:25.480 --> 0:27:28.440 and really it's our community that's building it. And then 0:27:28.480 --> 0:27:30.600 the flip side, Danielle, if I could just call in 0:27:30.720 --> 0:27:35.480 kind of like philanthropy and and the racialization of the 0:27:35.520 --> 0:27:39.439 distribution of wealth in this country and stolen wealth, is like, 0:27:40.000 --> 0:27:42.600 why am I having house parties to raise three million 0:27:42.640 --> 0:27:44.520 dollars to open of our centers that's actually going to 0:27:44.560 --> 0:27:47.600 save lives and save money. So there's a way that 0:27:47.680 --> 0:27:49.720 like also the three million that we're trying to raise 0:27:49.720 --> 0:27:52.399 through house parties as a rounding error. So I do 0:27:52.520 --> 0:27:54.639 this like, you know, a little bit of a feeling 0:27:54.680 --> 0:27:59.800 between like incredibly profound gratitude that our community is stepping 0:27:59.800 --> 0:28:02.760 in UM to open this first center in the absence 0:28:02.920 --> 0:28:08.120 of systems UM that really should be funding UM and 0:28:08.200 --> 0:28:12.920 supporting the the the financing and the opening of a 0:28:13.040 --> 0:28:16.880 key part of our healthcare infrastructure UM. But but so, yeah, 0:28:16.920 --> 0:28:19.000 it's a call to like, you know, so, but but 0:28:19.119 --> 0:28:21.359 you know what, in the absence of anybody ever doing it, 0:28:21.520 --> 0:28:24.359 community is here and we're opening as first first center, 0:28:24.400 --> 0:28:27.399 and so we welcome you know, donations and support and 0:28:27.520 --> 0:28:30.000 every dollar at this point because we've we've raised our 0:28:30.000 --> 0:28:32.040 operating funds for the year. Every dollar at this point 0:28:32.080 --> 0:28:34.280 goes to the purchase and renovation of our space and 0:28:34.320 --> 0:28:37.359 we hope to open in twenty twenty three. Well, I 0:28:37.400 --> 0:28:42.200 hope to have you back to discuss the excitement around 0:28:42.200 --> 0:28:46.320 the opening. UM folks, if you are looking to contribute, 0:28:46.360 --> 0:28:49.800 please do so, UM, because we need we need more, 0:28:50.000 --> 0:28:53.560 we need we need more UM involvement and more community, 0:28:54.520 --> 0:28:59.600 more community care and healing this year. Can yeah please? Yeah? Yeah. 0:28:59.640 --> 0:29:01.320 I just want to say because you were saying we 0:29:01.360 --> 0:29:03.400 need more and I was like, yeah, we need more 0:29:03.400 --> 0:29:06.680 birth centers and what we know. The other part of 0:29:06.680 --> 0:29:09.560 my work is like codirect birth Center Equity, which is 0:29:09.600 --> 0:29:13.520 a national strategy to redirect full spectrum capital to birth 0:29:13.560 --> 0:29:16.280 centers led by people of color. Most birth centers are 0:29:16.280 --> 0:29:19.200 for profits that are started by midwives using their personal 0:29:19.200 --> 0:29:23.800 savings and lines of credit, and it means that most 0:29:24.440 --> 0:29:27.400 midwives of color and communities of color are left without 0:29:27.400 --> 0:29:31.480 birth centers. And so we have a cohort of thirty 0:29:31.520 --> 0:29:35.280 birth centers that we support through technical assistance and grants 0:29:35.280 --> 0:29:38.640 and funds, and so there, you know, I would just say, 0:29:38.760 --> 0:29:41.600 also find a birth center in your community and go 0:29:41.680 --> 0:29:44.480 to birth Center Equity dot org because we're out here 0:29:44.480 --> 0:29:47.160 and we're all everyone has a business plan, a legal structure, 0:29:47.720 --> 0:29:51.440 you know, a building in space, in mind, and it's 0:29:51.440 --> 0:29:55.360 all about just moving capital that this country absolutely has 0:29:55.680 --> 0:29:57.960 too and we need to redirect that to birth centers 0:29:59.360 --> 0:30:03.040 a hundred. Thank you so much for making the time 0:30:03.080 --> 0:30:06.800 to join WOKEAF. Appreciate you, appreciate you. Thanks so much, 0:30:06.840 --> 0:30:14.160 Danielle Folks. I am very excited to be welcoming to 0:30:14.200 --> 0:30:18.360 woke F daily for the first time. Doctor mckeba McCreary, 0:30:18.640 --> 0:30:22.360 who serves as president of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity 0:30:22.400 --> 0:30:27.880 and Social Justice Fund and NCF, is a coalition founded 0:30:28.000 --> 0:30:33.000 of black and brown executives from Massachusetts leading corporations united 0:30:33.040 --> 0:30:37.040 to support black and brown communities amid COVID in the 0:30:37.040 --> 0:30:40.360 wake of George Floyd and just roughly a whole lot 0:30:40.360 --> 0:30:43.440 of things that we need economic support and power around. 0:30:44.280 --> 0:30:52.320 Doctor McCreary, talk to us about why this fund, why 0:30:52.360 --> 0:30:56.200 this came about in I believe it is twenty twenty one, 0:30:56.880 --> 0:31:03.280 and you know you've already raised an extraordinary amount thirty 0:31:03.280 --> 0:31:05.920 million towards or maybe it's more than that at this point. 0:31:06.000 --> 0:31:08.400 But what I have is thirty million towards your one 0:31:08.480 --> 0:31:13.440 hundred million dollar goals. So talk to us about the 0:31:13.520 --> 0:31:16.800 why behind this. Sure, thank you first of all for 0:31:16.880 --> 0:31:20.560 having me, and also I know you hosted Nashira are 0:31:20.640 --> 0:31:25.400 Real earlier and she's an incredible partner for NCF, particularly 0:31:25.760 --> 0:31:29.760 in this partnership with mass General Brigham and our focus 0:31:29.760 --> 0:31:34.840 on maternal health equity, especially for black women. And here 0:31:34.880 --> 0:31:39.040 we are. We were founded about two years ago, and 0:31:40.040 --> 0:31:42.520 I have to say that I wasn't a part of 0:31:42.560 --> 0:31:46.880 the initial beginning of the organization, but I am really 0:31:46.880 --> 0:31:49.560 really thrilled to have joined. And I remember the moment 0:31:49.560 --> 0:31:52.720 it was announced, and I remember being really proud that 0:31:53.600 --> 0:31:57.520 nineteen colleagues across the city really put themselves their own 0:31:57.560 --> 0:32:02.400 positionality in a slightly precarious place because they stepped in 0:32:02.440 --> 0:32:04.719 front of their corporations and said, we're going to leave this, 0:32:05.360 --> 0:32:07.800 and you're going to support it financially, but we're going 0:32:07.840 --> 0:32:12.040 to leave this. And so fast forward, we have about 0:32:13.000 --> 0:32:16.600 a little over three million dollars worth of investments into 0:32:16.640 --> 0:32:20.840 black and brown leaders across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and 0:32:21.480 --> 0:32:27.920 we are about fifty nine strong in terms of those organizations, 0:32:28.000 --> 0:32:31.280 and we anticipate getting to one hundred millions so that 0:32:31.320 --> 0:32:33.479 we can push out ten to fifteen percent of our 0:32:33.520 --> 0:32:36.880 corpus annually, not that three to five percent that typically 0:32:36.960 --> 0:32:42.480 philanthropy moves out of the door. Why is it important 0:32:43.240 --> 0:32:47.080 for this to be led by black executives? You know, 0:32:47.440 --> 0:32:51.280 oftentimes within the black community, we hear we need to 0:32:51.280 --> 0:32:53.600 help each other more, we need to be lifting each 0:32:53.640 --> 0:32:55.920 other up. And you know, personally, as somebody that has 0:32:55.920 --> 0:33:01.000 been on the ground in activism in movement UM for 0:33:01.120 --> 0:33:04.320 a majority of my career, I've always seen Black people 0:33:04.480 --> 0:33:08.320 working in solidarity with each other and with you know, 0:33:08.480 --> 0:33:12.080 with other allies and communities. And so what is it 0:33:12.120 --> 0:33:16.080 about the funding side of this and the coming together 0:33:16.320 --> 0:33:20.840 on UM on the resources side that is so important? 0:33:21.600 --> 0:33:24.840 You know, typically you think of philanthropy and you think 0:33:24.840 --> 0:33:28.800 of protecting wealth UM. You don't think of right like that. 0:33:28.800 --> 0:33:30.640 That's sort of the structure, that's the way it was, 0:33:30.720 --> 0:33:32.560 it's been set up, and that's the way that we 0:33:32.680 --> 0:33:35.320 operate UM. But when I say we, I don't mean 0:33:35.360 --> 0:33:38.239 collective we people of color because frankly, we have been 0:33:38.320 --> 0:33:42.360 redlined out of that that process. We receive. You know, 0:33:42.680 --> 0:33:45.320 less than ten percent of philanthropic dollars go to our 0:33:46.600 --> 0:33:50.360 black and brown leaders UM nationally, and it's just as 0:33:50.600 --> 0:33:55.080 um Stark in Massachusetts. I can tell you that having 0:33:55.120 --> 0:33:59.440 spoken to the folks, we've invested in these these leaders 0:33:59.640 --> 0:34:04.320 for them to know that they have been respected in 0:34:04.360 --> 0:34:07.640 such a way that these dollars are unrestricted, that they 0:34:07.720 --> 0:34:11.880 are going to them because we firmly believe that they 0:34:11.960 --> 0:34:14.839 are closest to the solutions, and therefore they don't need 0:34:15.719 --> 0:34:18.799 a philanthropic entity a fund to tell them what to 0:34:18.840 --> 0:34:21.520 do with these dollars. They need us to get more 0:34:21.520 --> 0:34:23.879 resources out the door to them so that they can 0:34:23.880 --> 0:34:29.239 continue to interrupt these cycles of racist policies, practices, programs 0:34:29.719 --> 0:34:33.000 so important that the founders of NCF came together and 0:34:33.040 --> 0:34:36.600 the way they did because it was unapologetic. It was saying, look, 0:34:36.960 --> 0:34:40.440 you know, it hasn't worked so far. Whatever is, whatever 0:34:40.480 --> 0:34:43.600 we think is supposed to be, you know, effective, it's 0:34:43.680 --> 0:34:48.239 not been effective, and we're still suffering. As amplified during 0:34:48.280 --> 0:34:52.000 the period of time when NCF was launched, you know, 0:34:52.360 --> 0:34:57.359 you you'd mentioned at the top that black executives put 0:34:57.360 --> 0:35:01.200 themselves in a precarious situation. Can you speak you know, 0:35:01.520 --> 0:35:06.240 with with wanting to be out front um in this space, 0:35:06.440 --> 0:35:09.799 can you just speak to I guess the balance right, 0:35:10.280 --> 0:35:16.640 that that black executives that gathered with the intentionality around 0:35:16.719 --> 0:35:20.160 a redistribution of wealth, the balance that they have to 0:35:20.200 --> 0:35:26.640 have within their own corporations, but then the internalized responsibility 0:35:26.680 --> 0:35:29.759 and accountability that they want to have to black and 0:35:29.800 --> 0:35:33.759 brown communities that they are a part of, right, I mean, 0:35:33.800 --> 0:35:36.600 so there's there's not one specific incident that I would 0:35:36.640 --> 0:35:38.560 point to, but I would say what we all know 0:35:38.840 --> 0:35:40.640 very very well is that you don't get into the 0:35:40.680 --> 0:35:44.000 c suite of a corporation of fortune five hundred as 0:35:44.000 --> 0:35:46.360 a person of color without a lot of blood, sweat, 0:35:46.400 --> 0:35:51.440 tears and compromise. Um and UM. So these folks, needless 0:35:51.480 --> 0:35:55.560 to say, have earned. Right, there's their spots um in 0:35:55.600 --> 0:35:59.879 these companies. And that's sometimes even for the most fear 0:36:00.080 --> 0:36:02.960 usum individual. You know, there's a lot to lose, right. 0:36:03.000 --> 0:36:06.040 They have families there, Um, most of them are our 0:36:06.160 --> 0:36:10.560 mid mid career. But you know, um have really really 0:36:10.600 --> 0:36:12.880 fought hard to get where they are. And so to 0:36:13.000 --> 0:36:15.359 turn around and say you know what, I'm actually I'm 0:36:15.360 --> 0:36:19.600 actually strong enough and I am secure enough to UM 0:36:20.480 --> 0:36:25.480 require that this company respects that I absolutely need to 0:36:25.520 --> 0:36:28.759 be a part of the solution. And our CSR motivation 0:36:29.239 --> 0:36:32.120 is not what I'm about. This is about us galvanizing 0:36:32.160 --> 0:36:36.880 together with our own our own influence also UM and 0:36:36.880 --> 0:36:39.520 and saying, look, we're gonna we're gonna turn this model 0:36:39.560 --> 0:36:41.680 on its head. We're gonna we're gonna do it a 0:36:41.719 --> 0:36:43.200 different way. We're going to do it a way that 0:36:43.280 --> 0:36:45.120 I guess I really do want to come back to 0:36:45.160 --> 0:36:51.440 that word respect. UM is filled with respect for UM, us, 0:36:51.920 --> 0:36:55.920 for for us, you know, And I think when I 0:36:56.000 --> 0:37:00.520 when I was speaking UM earlier with Norisha, we're talking 0:37:00.560 --> 0:37:08.120 about making as it pertains to Black women and maternity 0:37:08.200 --> 0:37:13.719 and mortality and turning what has become one of the 0:37:15.160 --> 0:37:19.320 leading ways that black women die right in this wealthy, 0:37:19.440 --> 0:37:22.799 wealthy nation that we live in. We're talking about what 0:37:23.239 --> 0:37:28.160 three hundred or so Black babies dying every year in 0:37:28.200 --> 0:37:32.600 this industrialized nation. And so why was you know, and 0:37:32.760 --> 0:37:37.040 I give that those stats to underscore for my listeners 0:37:37.239 --> 0:37:42.719 the seriousness behind this issue that isn't addressed on a 0:37:42.800 --> 0:37:46.480 regular basis. That is, you know, by virtue of Serena 0:37:46.560 --> 0:37:50.240 Williams being very outspoken a couple of years ago about 0:37:50.280 --> 0:37:53.800 her own birthing experience. Outside of that, if you weren't 0:37:53.880 --> 0:37:57.840 in this space, in the medical space, in the in 0:37:57.880 --> 0:38:01.359 the wellness space, you wouldn't really know right about this. 0:38:01.400 --> 0:38:05.640 And so why for this group and the partnership that 0:38:05.680 --> 0:38:10.400 you have was this so important? I think first about 0:38:10.480 --> 0:38:14.560 my own birthing experience, and Nishia loves to say that 0:38:14.560 --> 0:38:17.240 everybody has a birthing story. Men have a birthding story, 0:38:17.280 --> 0:38:20.480 grandmothers have a birthding story. You know. My birthing story 0:38:20.719 --> 0:38:24.360 is that I never would have entertained a dula or midwife. 0:38:24.480 --> 0:38:28.600 I hate hospitals. It was still to this day remember 0:38:28.640 --> 0:38:31.560 walking in to give birth and cringing at the fact 0:38:31.560 --> 0:38:34.160 that I knew I had to be there for you know, 0:38:34.360 --> 0:38:38.279 the remainder of the day, but I didn't know I 0:38:38.280 --> 0:38:40.839 had another option, another choice. And one of the things 0:38:40.840 --> 0:38:43.040 I've learned from Nishia, which is so true, is that 0:38:43.080 --> 0:38:47.200 we entertain the concept that dula's and midwife free are 0:38:48.160 --> 0:38:51.799 non traditional but right yeah, she says, it's the most 0:38:51.840 --> 0:38:56.759 tradult way to bring a life into this world. So 0:38:56.800 --> 0:38:59.160 the partnership is super important to me. I should say 0:38:59.200 --> 0:39:04.960 this also became as mgb Entrusted UM New Commonwealth Fund UM. 0:39:04.960 --> 0:39:08.480 So Mass General Brigham um Entrusted New Commonwealth Fund. With 0:39:08.560 --> 0:39:12.480 this two point five million dollar investment that we are 0:39:13.239 --> 0:39:15.560 making taking a position and saying it's not just in 0:39:15.560 --> 0:39:19.120 the health equity space that we need to move these funds. 0:39:19.239 --> 0:39:22.160 We actually need to be educating folks in the policing 0:39:22.160 --> 0:39:25.960 and criminal justice reform space, folks in the youth development 0:39:26.000 --> 0:39:30.200 space UM, organizations that are doing work around economic empowerment, 0:39:30.560 --> 0:39:35.080 you know, housing UM. These are all factors that play 0:39:35.160 --> 0:39:41.480 into the black maternal experience and the maternal experience period. 0:39:41.520 --> 0:39:44.080 We need to be talking to men about how to 0:39:44.160 --> 0:39:50.480 support you know, their partners or or their their daughters UM. 0:39:51.000 --> 0:39:54.720 And that education is where the Birthing Center is pushing 0:39:54.760 --> 0:39:57.560 in with us UM. And so we are thinking about 0:39:57.600 --> 0:40:00.520 this as a wraparound UM. We're thinking about this as 0:40:00.560 --> 0:40:04.000 a community based effort. So we really want to work 0:40:04.040 --> 0:40:07.839 with the folks who are trusted in different communities by 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:12.080 those residents, not US, not you know, not some random 0:40:12.200 --> 0:40:15.920 organization coming in and that might take place in a church, 0:40:16.239 --> 0:40:18.560 That conversation might take place in a gym, or in 0:40:18.560 --> 0:40:23.120 a food pantry or a school gymnasium. That's that's what 0:40:23.200 --> 0:40:25.719 this partnership is going to look like. We're still designing it, 0:40:25.719 --> 0:40:28.120 but it's really exciting and I honestly think it's it's 0:40:28.160 --> 0:40:33.600 a model. What do you think that philanthropy needs to 0:40:33.719 --> 0:40:42.200 understand about how they can be partners? Right? Because I have, 0:40:43.000 --> 0:40:46.719 by virtue of the work that I've been in in 0:40:46.840 --> 0:40:52.360 politics and in policy, have dealt with many different philanthropic organizations, 0:40:52.360 --> 0:40:56.160 individual donors, larger foundations and what have you. And you know, 0:40:56.320 --> 0:40:58.520 most of the folks that are wielding the pen or 0:40:58.560 --> 0:41:02.000 those that are white, right, and and to your earlier point, 0:41:02.560 --> 0:41:05.480 UM less than ten percent, and I would probably argue 0:41:05.520 --> 0:41:08.759 that it's in single digits, you know, like like low, low, 0:41:08.840 --> 0:41:12.360 low single digits. Uh, the amount of money that is 0:41:12.400 --> 0:41:16.040 given to UM, to black and brown people, but black 0:41:16.040 --> 0:41:21.480 people specifically UM. And what I've heard from you know, 0:41:21.640 --> 0:41:28.160 from from philanthropy, from philanthropists is UM is that, well, 0:41:28.160 --> 0:41:29.960 we just don't know where to put our money. We 0:41:30.000 --> 0:41:32.440 don't know where, you know, where the need is. It 0:41:32.480 --> 0:41:36.279 always seems to be some type of excuse. And so 0:41:36.840 --> 0:41:43.040 what conversation do you think should be had UM with 0:41:43.080 --> 0:41:46.160 these large, large entities that I'm talking, you know, are 0:41:46.200 --> 0:41:51.520 holding hundreds of millions of dollars um, but remain gate 0:41:51.640 --> 0:41:54.560 gatekeepers right in in a in a lot of ways 0:41:54.640 --> 0:41:58.600 to social ills and issues that they could readily have 0:41:59.120 --> 0:42:03.040 serious impact act on. I have had this conversation, right, 0:42:03.080 --> 0:42:06.719 I've been approached by large corporations that are foundations, and 0:42:06.760 --> 0:42:09.920 they have said, how do you find these people? How 0:42:09.960 --> 0:42:14.000 do you find these organizations? We just paid the consulting firm, 0:42:14.120 --> 0:42:17.120 you know, oodles of money that help us figure out 0:42:17.160 --> 0:42:19.719 who's out there doing this work. I mean, Danielle, it's 0:42:19.760 --> 0:42:24.600 about relationships. I mean, it's I mean, I hate to 0:42:24.680 --> 0:42:28.000 oversimplify it, but I don't have that problem, right, Like 0:42:28.320 --> 0:42:31.200 you know, the Commonwealth Fund has not had that problem. 0:42:31.239 --> 0:42:35.919 We the minute that we are talking to somebody who's 0:42:35.960 --> 0:42:37.560 doing the work. And that's the other thing I would say. 0:42:37.600 --> 0:42:40.000 I mean, I have so many conversations. I try really 0:42:40.000 --> 0:42:44.520 hard to have every conversation and to meet folks that 0:42:44.560 --> 0:42:49.239 are doing work, not just as potential singular investments, but 0:42:49.400 --> 0:42:53.040 actually so that I can keep track of who is 0:42:53.080 --> 0:42:55.359 doing what in what spaces and needs to be doing 0:42:55.400 --> 0:42:57.680 it together or talking to each other or learning from 0:42:57.719 --> 0:43:01.360 one another. And I just think fundamentally, like that's a 0:43:02.640 --> 0:43:05.120 I'm gonna go out to limitay, that's a black experience, right, 0:43:05.160 --> 0:43:10.400 Like it's it's about your network that's on around your community, 0:43:10.440 --> 0:43:12.000 the person you can pick up the phone and call. 0:43:12.400 --> 0:43:15.560 That's my black experience here is you know, I know 0:43:16.480 --> 0:43:18.359 if I don't know the answer, I know I have 0:43:18.440 --> 0:43:20.360 somebody to call who can tell me the answer. And 0:43:20.480 --> 0:43:23.640 I don't mind asking. Right, That's the other thing I 0:43:23.680 --> 0:43:25.520 think that there's there's got to be you asked. What 0:43:25.520 --> 0:43:28.640 does philanthropy need to do? Differently, I think humility, I 0:43:28.680 --> 0:43:32.919 think respect back to respect to him, and um, I 0:43:32.960 --> 0:43:35.680 think being honest about like are you holding onto this 0:43:35.840 --> 0:43:38.560 forever and ever or did you actually want to put 0:43:38.560 --> 0:43:40.799 it to work so that our children and our grandchildren 0:43:41.239 --> 0:43:45.560 have a better world because you can't, you know. And 0:43:45.680 --> 0:43:47.560 I think that a part of that when you say 0:43:47.760 --> 0:43:51.440 you know, the respect piece is also respecting it is 0:43:51.680 --> 0:43:54.800 it is deeply about respect because for people who haven't 0:43:54.840 --> 0:43:59.840 dealt in and around philanthropy, there are strengths, lots of 0:44:00.040 --> 0:44:02.799 strings that are attached to then dictate to those that 0:44:02.840 --> 0:44:05.120 are on the ground doing the work how the work 0:44:05.160 --> 0:44:07.600 should be done or how their money should be spent 0:44:08.080 --> 0:44:12.160 and so how you know that that in and of 0:44:12.239 --> 0:44:16.040 itself is paternalistic, right, And as I was saying, you 0:44:16.040 --> 0:44:19.600 know with Narisia earlier, stems from white supremacy, and so 0:44:19.640 --> 0:44:22.759 it's so it's like, how you know the conversation with 0:44:22.760 --> 0:44:25.640 philanthropy isn't also about you know where you got that 0:44:25.680 --> 0:44:28.400 money that you're spending in the first place, UM, and 0:44:28.480 --> 0:44:33.280 how it was extracted, but also how you know how 0:44:33.360 --> 0:44:38.239 you build the trust with the communities that you say 0:44:38.280 --> 0:44:42.319 that you want to help UM. And I think that that, 0:44:42.400 --> 0:44:47.600 to me is what's so critical about your fund is 0:44:47.680 --> 0:44:52.000 that I mean, well, you you tell us how how 0:44:52.080 --> 0:44:56.760 is this fund for those that are seeking resources different 0:44:56.960 --> 0:45:01.480 than where where else they could potentially go? Right? And 0:45:01.560 --> 0:45:05.000 I hope to firmly influence the other places that they 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:10.080 could go when they start to understand that there's a 0:45:10.200 --> 0:45:13.319 lot of knowledge, a lot of talent, a lot of 0:45:14.239 --> 0:45:20.359 capability in these leaders across at least the Commonalth of Massachusetts, 0:45:20.360 --> 0:45:24.040 which is where we're focused. And the way that I've 0:45:24.040 --> 0:45:27.120 been approaching it, and again I've just started in September, 0:45:27.600 --> 0:45:29.720 but I know a lot of these organizations from having 0:45:29.800 --> 0:45:35.480 worked across different fields and you know, there's there's a 0:45:35.480 --> 0:45:41.480 difference between not holding somebody accountable and this sort of 0:45:41.520 --> 0:45:44.480 the strings and the requirements. I mean, we want to 0:45:44.520 --> 0:45:47.920 be accountable, and CEF wants to be accountable, but also 0:45:48.080 --> 0:45:50.719 the leaders of these nonprofits want to be accountable to 0:45:51.480 --> 0:45:55.239 the work that they're doing, not to the funder that 0:45:55.520 --> 0:45:59.400 is that you know, they jump through these six hoops, 0:45:59.440 --> 0:46:02.399 then they might be eligible for the next round. And 0:46:02.480 --> 0:46:05.000 by the way, design something that I'm going to have 0:46:05.000 --> 0:46:07.560 some influence in telling you what it should look like 0:46:07.600 --> 0:46:09.479 when I don't even do this work, I'm not even 0:46:09.520 --> 0:46:12.480 close to it. I have no idea what it means 0:46:12.600 --> 0:46:15.840 right to run an after school program or to you know, 0:46:16.239 --> 0:46:18.640 have a COVID clinic set up on the corner of 0:46:18.640 --> 0:46:21.640 Blue Hill Ab and Quincy Street, because that's where people 0:46:21.719 --> 0:46:25.200 walk by every day and they will accept support from 0:46:25.239 --> 0:46:29.760 a young black doctor whom you know takes the time 0:46:29.880 --> 0:46:34.080 to stand there and do some education so you know, 0:46:34.120 --> 0:46:36.400 get out of the way a little bit, but also 0:46:37.040 --> 0:46:40.200 help not out of the way, like hands off, out 0:46:40.200 --> 0:46:42.879 of the way, like what what else do you need 0:46:42.960 --> 0:46:44.719 from us? And that's one thing that I think is 0:46:45.040 --> 0:46:48.480 um not necessarily unique, but I'm very proud of is 0:46:49.200 --> 0:46:53.480 we are building out a capacity to technical assistance and 0:46:53.520 --> 0:46:58.800 capacity building structure that would allow all of the folks 0:46:58.800 --> 0:47:02.040 that we've invested in anyone else to come to sessions 0:47:02.040 --> 0:47:04.560 to learn about fundamental things like how to read a 0:47:04.560 --> 0:47:07.880 P and L what does lobbying mean? How close can 0:47:07.920 --> 0:47:10.000 you get to that line? A lot closer than a 0:47:10.000 --> 0:47:15.440 lot of nonprofits realize. Advocacy is real. It's important. What 0:47:15.680 --> 0:47:18.319 you know? You do you need to create another five 0:47:18.400 --> 0:47:19.880 or one C three or is there a way for 0:47:19.880 --> 0:47:21.960 you to bring in a fiscal sponsor so that you're 0:47:22.000 --> 0:47:25.160 not paying that overhead? All of those things all the 0:47:25.160 --> 0:47:27.279 way up to like what's a collective impact model and 0:47:27.320 --> 0:47:31.560 how might these five organizations come together? We're not only 0:47:31.680 --> 0:47:34.960 asking for for what those needs are, you know, how 0:47:35.000 --> 0:47:38.040 to build a marketing plan, But we're responding right away. 0:47:38.040 --> 0:47:39.720 And I can tell you that all of the leaders 0:47:39.719 --> 0:47:43.440 we're working with are like, wait a minute, are you serious? 0:47:43.680 --> 0:47:46.200 Like you're you're just going to offer this our workshop. 0:47:46.960 --> 0:47:50.440 We've even gotten the simple requests of actually, could we 0:47:50.520 --> 0:47:52.520 just be in a room together for thirty minutes like 0:47:53.040 --> 0:47:55.759 a zoo in person whom like I don't get to 0:47:55.800 --> 0:47:59.200 see other black and brown women who are leading organizations 0:48:00.080 --> 0:48:04.760 because I'm so blinders on, you know, running hard getting 0:48:04.800 --> 0:48:06.839 this yep done, and I'm really just trying to do 0:48:06.880 --> 0:48:09.759 the work yep. So those are the ways that I 0:48:09.800 --> 0:48:13.959 feel like we will differentiate ourselves. But also, like I said, 0:48:14.160 --> 0:48:16.560 I want to make sure we're influencing the philanthropic sector 0:48:16.600 --> 0:48:19.440 as well, so that they start to emulate some of 0:48:19.480 --> 0:48:21.600 the things that we hope to do that will work. 0:48:23.640 --> 0:48:27.680 Last question for you, um, doctor McCary, is what what 0:48:27.760 --> 0:48:32.120 are your hopes for ANDCF and where do you see 0:48:32.920 --> 0:48:35.799 the fun going? Um? You know, and then in the 0:48:35.840 --> 0:48:39.960 next year, and then and the and the years after that. Right, 0:48:40.000 --> 0:48:41.920 So we're going to take the next two years and 0:48:41.960 --> 0:48:44.840 we're gonna test in a few different ways. We're going 0:48:44.920 --> 0:48:50.239 to test a larger grants in fewer geographic areas. We're 0:48:50.239 --> 0:48:53.600 going to test that still having that five, ten, fifteen 0:48:53.640 --> 0:48:58.240 thousand dollars opportunity because sometimes that's what's needed right away 0:48:58.280 --> 0:49:01.759 without a huge process and a long way. We are 0:49:01.800 --> 0:49:05.640 going to partner with some other foundations to do um 0:49:06.520 --> 0:49:11.120 uh sort of an um commitment that's more significant in 0:49:11.160 --> 0:49:14.200 a place based model approach to see does that move 0:49:14.280 --> 0:49:16.400 the needle? Because to be honest with you, you know, 0:49:16.440 --> 0:49:20.240 we need to figure out, like what is the best 0:49:20.520 --> 0:49:23.800 use of our energy and our focus. And it's probably 0:49:23.840 --> 0:49:28.360 not m you know, spread across the entire Commonwealth and 0:49:28.600 --> 0:49:34.040 you know, five different pillars at four hundred grants a year, right, 0:49:34.080 --> 0:49:37.319 it's it's it's probably that we need to decide this 0:49:37.360 --> 0:49:39.000 is where we're going to move the needle, and we're 0:49:39.000 --> 0:49:41.440 going to get somebody else to be influenced to come 0:49:41.440 --> 0:49:43.360 in and support moving the needle somewhere else. So is 0:49:43.360 --> 0:49:48.239 it policy? Is it you know, um? Organizational development? Is 0:49:48.239 --> 0:49:51.399 it economic empowerment? Um? These are the things that we're 0:49:51.400 --> 0:49:55.280 gonna spend some time testing out. We've made a commitment 0:49:55.320 --> 0:49:58.239 to three million dollars grant making budget for the next 0:49:58.280 --> 0:50:02.239 two years. We're s team and we're going to keep 0:50:02.239 --> 0:50:06.440 taking those meetings and keep having those conversations. And for 0:50:06.480 --> 0:50:11.480 those people who want to find out more information and 0:50:11.280 --> 0:50:15.760 understand more get connected, please sure share with the folks 0:50:15.760 --> 0:50:17.799 how they can. Yeah, go right to our website. It's 0:50:17.960 --> 0:50:21.640 www dot Newcommonwealth Fund dot org. As soon as you 0:50:21.719 --> 0:50:24.200 get there, there should be a pop up that allows 0:50:24.200 --> 0:50:25.759 you to say you want to sign up to be 0:50:25.800 --> 0:50:29.200 on our newsletter and do that because you will get 0:50:29.440 --> 0:50:32.279 every piece of information, whether you're a grant seeker, or 0:50:32.280 --> 0:50:35.360 you're a funder, or you are just really interested in 0:50:35.440 --> 0:50:40.160 how we're evolving. Doctor McCoury, thank you so much from 0:50:40.239 --> 0:50:42.879 making the time for wok F and for the work 0:50:42.880 --> 0:50:45.719 that you're doing. I'm excited about it. Thank you, and 0:50:46.280 --> 0:50:50.600 hope that what you're doing in Massachusetts will be a 0:50:50.719 --> 0:50:55.600 seed for what can be done around the country. Thank you. 0:51:01.520 --> 0:51:05.000 That is it for me today. Friends, on this Woke 0:51:05.040 --> 0:51:08.960 a F daily as always, Power to the people and 0:51:09.040 --> 0:51:12.920 to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke 0:51:12.960 --> 0:51:13.399 as fuck.