2024-2025 Impact Grant Recipient: Perinatal Health Equity Initiative (PHEI)

The Organization:

PHEI is dedicated to ending racial disparities in Black infant and maternal health through advocacy, education, community engagement, research, collaboration, and clinical support. Their goal is to ensure Black women have the tools, resources, and support to achieve healthy outcomes for themselves and their infants, working toward a future where Black maternal and infant health equity is a reality.

The Challenge:

Racial disparities make US maternal mortality higher than all economically comparable countries, and NJ is among the worst states where 91% of maternal deaths were deemed preventable. Lower quality care and provider bias threaten lives. Combined with the history of medical racism, they also lead Black people to distrust and avoid clinicians. Area clinics are overbooked and patients on waitlists are often not seen until 20+ weeks, which is dangerously late for Black mamas, who are at high risk.

The Project: Lieutenant Tamesah Dickey Black Maternal Health Center

Until recently, PHEI was running programs and care outside of their office, and seeing clients in their office only two days/week for lactation support, donated maternity and baby supplies, and basic needs referral. PHEI is currently launching their new clinic–the Lieutenant Tamesha Dickey Black Maternal Health Center in East Orange– a large expansion of both their physical space and of the services they offer to Black mamas. In addition to providing more administrative space to support their clients, the fully operational new clinic allows them to begin serving mamas 6 days/week on site as well as offer perinatal healthcare access from early pregnancy through postpartum, including lactation support. PHEI will hire a physician Medical Director and a Midwife to treat patients and apply for state certification required for this new staff to operate in the clinic.

The clinic will also connect mamas to PHEI’s other programming, including: nurse home visits to monitor and support maternal health (especially mamas at high risk of preeclampsia), advocacy in hospitals, donated milk and maternity/infant equipment and supplies, a lactation support group, a postpartum mental health support group, help accessing basic needs, and organizing for statewide policies promoting Black perinatal health.

The Grant:

The Impact Grant will provide funds at a critical time to get the new clinic up and running. 60% would go towards purchasing essential equipment including an ultrasound machine for fetal monitoring ($30K), an emergency defibrillator machine, doppler ultrasounds to monitor maternal blood flow, blood pressure machines, and more. The remainder would cover cabinetry, required licensing fees, and administrative costs.

The Impact:

Lieutenant Tamesah Dickey Black Maternal Health Center will ensure area Black mamas do not go without perinatal healthcare, potentially developing serious health issues threatening their pregnancies and lives while they wait months for appointments. The clinic will provide quick, unbiased, culturally congruent care giving them and their babies the best chance at health. Such clinics have opened in several other states and demonstrably reduced maternal mortality rates and racial disparities.