[29] Okionu Birth Foundation: Free Postpartum Care

Okionu Birth Foundation offers free personalized meals and group mental health support for low-income BIPOC families during the first six weeks after their baby is born. They collaborate with chefs and the Therapist of Color Collective to provide care in Colorado, Maryland, and Texas. While their free services are currently limited, they are developing an app for a nationwide support network. In this episode I speak with founder Jacquelyn Clemmons about how they are prioritizing the mental health and overall wellbeing of BIPOC newborns and their parents. She shares their offerings for holistic and culturally relevant care, food as the foundation for wellbeing, Black maternal health disparities and how they are combating that through their partnership with Irth app (honors the voices of Black and brown woman giving them a platform to review prenatal, birthing, postpartum and pediatric care received from doctors and hospitals), negative effects lack of care has on child development, and stay tuned until the end to go on a multisensory journey into the future of Okionu birth centers.Okionu Birth Foundation WebsiteOkionu InstagramIrth AppSupport Okionu on Open Collective FoundationWant to support Cooperative Journal?Share your gifts with us on Open Collective Foundation