Today, we continue our countdown to #GivingTuesday! With only 8 days away, we’d like to introduce you to Indigenous Women Rising, an organization that creates the space for indigenous people to tell their own stories on their own terms as an act of resistance, self love, and love for their ancestors and family. This year, FAM became an initial proud supporter for the organization’s Indigenous Midwifery Fund.“
In response to what Indigenous families need right now, Indigenous Women Rising launched and is piloting a donation based midwifery fund,” said Co-Founder, Rachael Lorenzo (Laguna Pueblo, Mescalero Apache, Chicana).She continued, “The fund is supporting access to home births by CPMs, LMs, and CNMs, specifically for Native families, in the state of New Mexico to pilot and work toward the goal of expanding to other states.”
The fund has been able to fully cover the midwifery fees for their very first client as well as provide groceries and postpartum supplies. Shout-out to Melissa 
who was the attending midwife.
The vision for the Indigenous Midwifery Fund is to create “a viable and sustainable workforce development program, in which midwives will provide apprenticeships to train Native midwives…” The overall goal is to cultivate Native midwives and birth attendants across all Pueblos, Tribes, and Nations who will be able to provide the best and culturally relevant care for their own people.
Hats off to this outstanding organization from all of us at FAM and the birth community at-large. Visit www.iwrising.org to learn more.
Stay tuned as we continue our countdown to #GivingTuesday on December 1st. We’ve set an audacious goal of raising $20,000 during this campaign to be able to deliver more grants to organizations like Indigenous Women Rising to improve maternal and child health in North America. You can help us out by signing up to run your own fundraiser for us here: https://bit.ly/3kATixF. #Give4Midwifery #formidwiferyPictured above L-R: Rachael Lorenzo, Nicole Martin, Malia Luarkie, New Mexico Roundhouse, March 2019
