East Bay program centers Black pregnancy

Delphine Sims’s pregnancy was going smoothly until she was diagnosed with cholestasis—a liver disease that can endanger an unborn baby—at 37 weeks. In such cases, doctors often recommend inducing labor to reduce risk. But Sims, a 34-year-old first-time mother living in Oakland, was not sure what to do.

She credits the staff at BelovedBIRTH Black Centering—a program launched in 2020 and designed to improve pre- and post-natal care for Black women—with helping her make the decision that was best for her. Sims, who received her PhD at UC Berkeley and now works as a curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, joined the program in January 2025, after being encouraged by midwives at Highland Hospital.

“Beloved taught me how to cope through labor, and I ended up feeling really strong,” Sims said.

The Beloved program was created to tackle some stark disparities in health outcomes that Black mothers and babies face. Black babies are twice as likely to die during their first year of life as all other babies in the U.S.

It’s operated by Alameda Health System and the Alameda County Public Health Department in collaboration with the Beloved Birth Collective, a non-profit organization committed to the success of the program and the birth justice movement. UC Berkeley School of Public Health’s Wallace Center for Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health acts as an important research and evaluation partner.

In October 2025, the Beloved program, with support from the Wallace Center, released its 2024 annual report, celebrating that babies born in its program were born significantly later and significantly heavier—two measures of newborn health—compared to Black babies delivered within Alameda Health System, but outside of the Beloved program.

BelovedBIRTH Black Centering’s preterm birth rate was 8%, compared to 13% outside the program; its low-birth weight rate was 10% compared to 14%. Preterm birth and low birth weight are both threats to newborns.

“We were really gratified to see in the numbers what we know from our anecdotal discussions and qualitative research—that the program works,” said Dr. Lindsay Parham, the Wallace Center’s executive director. “One of our driving values at the Wallace Center is birth equity, and that’s exactly what Beloved provides. We are always looking for innovative takes on how to improve the current system. Beloved really achieves that.”

As a research and evaluation partner, UC Berkeley’s Wallace Center has conducted ongoing evaluations of the Beloved program since its launch in 2020. Through mixed methods—including interviews with participants and systematic tracking of birth outcomes for mothers and infants—UC Berkeley researchers have documented the program’s impact and provided evidence to support its continued growth.

Built on Centering Pregnancy

The program’s model builds on Centering Pregnancy, a national program of prenatal care from the Centering Healthcare Institute, which takes pregnant women who are due around the same time out of lonely exam rooms and into comfortable group settings.

Alameda Health System started offering a version of Centering in 2004; in 2019, a certified nurse midwife at Alameda Health System, Jyesha Wren, an African-American woman, was frustrated with the health disparities disproportionately affecting Black mothers and babies. She decided to build a program that’s specifically for that population. Wren became Beloved’s founding director.

“Our country’s crisis in perinatal outcomes, both for birthing people and babies, is bad for everybody, but particularly bad for Black folks,” said Wren. “There are longstanding higher rates for Black people of maternal and infant mortality and other illnesses and complications.”

In adapting the Centering model, Wren hired an all-African American female team to support the mothers.

In a research paper published May 21, 2025, in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, Wren and her co-authors at the Wallace Center wrote, “Beloved offers a paradigm shift by empowering Black women, birthing people, midwives, and the broader birth equity community to lead health system innovation and redefine perinatal care for the Black birth justice movement.”

“Instead of having that one-on-one 15-minute visit with your provider where you’re in and out, this program has eight to 10 moms go through prenatal care together for over two hours per visit,” said Marisol De Ornelas, a Wallace Center researcher and fourth-year doctoral student who co-authored both the research article and annual report.

Offering the right support

When the program started in 2020, the team worked with six groups of eight to 12 women per year. In September 2023, because of high demand, they scaled up to 12 groups, one launching each month with mothers grouped by due date. As of the end of 2024, the program had enrolled a total of 370 women as part of 35 groups.

Women enroll when they are 16 to 20 weeks pregnant. If the mothers-to-be are an Alameda Health System patient, their doctor will tell them about the program at their first prenatal visit, but soon-to-be moms also learn about it from friends, social services, community groups, and online.

They meet every other week for two and a half hours during pregnancy and then for four to 10 weeks after giving birth. Sessions are facilitated by an Alameda Health System midwife, rather than a doctor, and a family support advocate from Alameda County’s Public Health Department. The women also have access to doulas, who can help mothers make decisions, act as an intermediary during labor, and, once the baby is born, answer mothers’ questions about caring for their newborn.

Each session has a different theme, from nutrition in pregnancy to possible medical interventions during labor or delivery. Mothers-to-be also learn how to advocate for themselves with medical professionals. But De Ornelas emphasized that the group sessions are interactive discussions facilitated by trained staff, rather than didactic lessons, which she feels is important.

“This creates this community of moms who are going through pregnancy together.” De Ornelas said. “They are asking and answering each other’s questions. They are getting to learn about what one another is doing. They’re sharing advice. They’re all going through it together. Community and social support is part of what makes that model so powerful and magical.”

Sims said the friendly atmosphere was important to her.

“Being able to enter a calm space where you know that it’s for you…is wonderful,” she said, and also emphasized the program’s benefit for her mental health. “Pregnancy can be lonely, so the routine of the group sessions helped. The difference it makes in your mental health goes a long way.”

Group sessions offer a free meal catered by local restaurants, and women leave with produce from Mandela Partners, which features whatever is in season at that time.

“The fact that we got fed at a doctor’s appointment was incredible,” Sims said. “Everyone was talking about how much more access to a variety of nutrition they had through the program.”

Parham said she wished every woman had access to a program like Beloved. “It’s particularly valuable and important that they’re doing it specifically for Black women, specifically in a Black community, and specifically by addressing the needs that Black women have told them they have.”

De Ornelas and Agere Teshale, who is currently pursuing her master’s in maternal, child, and adolescent health at UC Berkeley, are working on creating an alumni council, where former participants can share feedback and help design new program materials. As part of her dissertation, De Ornelas is also studying how the program influences mental health outcomes among participants.

In the meantime, Sims did decide to induce her labor, with advice from professionals provided through the Beloved program. She gave birth to a healthy son, her first child, who she named Ileriayode or “Ileri,” in April 2025.

“I ended up deciding to get induced, but only after talking through my options with my midwife and doula.” she said. “They supported me in how to make that decision.”