Open A Community Birth School

My name is Ashanti Rivera.

I've been a birth worker for over 8 years. I run an LLC called Woman's Choice Perinatal Services. I also founded my non-profit called Woman's Choice Charitable Association, where I provide free and low-cost services to Black mothers and other parents in need in my community. I have been granted a number of proclamations and awards for my work around Black maternal health in my City.

3 years ago I began my journey to study midwifery. The journey has been a struggle because like many other Black aspiring midwives, there is a lot of gate keeping along with other barriers (especially financial) that make this dream difficult to attain.

I am currently enrolled as a student with Ancient Art Midwifery, and have decided to partner with them to open a Community Birth School here in Connecticut! While we are honored to have been gifted a small grant from Ancient Art Midwifery to support the opening of this Community Birth School, much more support would be appreciated!

The Woman's Choice Perinatal Services Birth Academy will be the only school of its kind in this area. The school will offer current WCPS courses in addition to the new Community Birth School midwifery studies program. It will offer distance learning in addition to a hybrid option that combines distance and in-person learning. Pricing will be very competitive as well. Both of these factors will help make my Community Birth School more accessible. Especially to Black aspiring midwives. The WCPS Birth Academy is also the only Black run Community Birth School with Ancient Art Midwifery at this time.

A school such as this will afford students the opportunity to have a community to study with and share in the ups and downs of the journey.

The goals of this fundraiser are:

To increase the number of Black midwives

Offer a sense of community to aspiring midwives

Afford the opportunity to offer a number of partial scholarships for Black aspiring midwives

Offset the expenses of opening the birth school in the first year. This includes start-up fees, supplies, and paying for instructors to host skills labs

The timeline for the opening of the school is:

Now - Announce the opening of the school

November 1st, 2023 - Begin accepting applications for enrollment and scholarships

November 15th, 2023 - Responses for accepted students and scholarship recipients can go out and students can begin paying tuition

January 1st, 2024 - Enrolled students will gain access to the online portion of the curriculum

Learn more about the WCPS Birth Academy