Emergency Fund for Moms of Color
Donation protected
I’m June Eric-Udorie, and I‘m a Black, disabled, working-class feminist, activist, and birthing justice advocate based in Durham, North Carolina. Over the past decade, my work has focused on accessing justice and equality, especially for marginalized women. I’ve done this work in a number of ways, as a writer of a critically-acclaimed anthology published by Penguin on the power of intersectionality that was reviewed by The New York Times, as a researcher studying women’s lives after deportation in Mexico, and as a volunteer at a homeless shelter serving families. You can read more about my work here: https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/longform/a34468/june-eric-udorie-elle-activist-2017/.
Last summer, I completed a birth doula training at Cornerstone in San Francisco: a Culturally Diverse Birthkeeper Training for POC Birthworkers after learning about the fatal maternal mortality rates for Black women in America. I also completed Cornerstone’s training: Supporting Trans and Gender-Non-Conforming (GNC) birthers. The choice was a strategic one–doulas have been shown to significantly improve birthing outcomes for marginalized women, and I knew that working with low-income/marginalized women who had been priced out of doula services would be a powerful way to make change.
Ever since I started providing free doula services in and around Durham, NC in October 2019, I have served 10 families in need. The families I work with are often facing complex and challenging situations, from housing insecurity, food insecurity, poverty, metal illness, domestic violence, teenage and single parenthood, job insecurity, and much more. Between September. 2019 and December 2019, I raised over $11,000 for my clients, supporting them with housing, food, childcare, transportation, personal emergencies, and much more. While I have been successful in fundraising, much of it has been rushed in moments of crisis, and so I am looking to establish a $5,000 Emergency Mom Of Color Fund that I can use to support my clients during moments of crisis–instead of rushing to crowdfund what we can on Twitter.
In order to make this fund possible, I need your support. Please consider making a donation. Direct giving saves lives, and this is a powerful way to make a small, but lasting change. Thank you.
Last summer, I completed a birth doula training at Cornerstone in San Francisco: a Culturally Diverse Birthkeeper Training for POC Birthworkers after learning about the fatal maternal mortality rates for Black women in America. I also completed Cornerstone’s training: Supporting Trans and Gender-Non-Conforming (GNC) birthers. The choice was a strategic one–doulas have been shown to significantly improve birthing outcomes for marginalized women, and I knew that working with low-income/marginalized women who had been priced out of doula services would be a powerful way to make change.
Ever since I started providing free doula services in and around Durham, NC in October 2019, I have served 10 families in need. The families I work with are often facing complex and challenging situations, from housing insecurity, food insecurity, poverty, metal illness, domestic violence, teenage and single parenthood, job insecurity, and much more. Between September. 2019 and December 2019, I raised over $11,000 for my clients, supporting them with housing, food, childcare, transportation, personal emergencies, and much more. While I have been successful in fundraising, much of it has been rushed in moments of crisis, and so I am looking to establish a $5,000 Emergency Mom Of Color Fund that I can use to support my clients during moments of crisis–instead of rushing to crowdfund what we can on Twitter.
In order to make this fund possible, I need your support. Please consider making a donation. Direct giving saves lives, and this is a powerful way to make a small, but lasting change. Thank you.
Organiser
June Eric-Udorie
Organiser
Durham, NC