May 16th 2019

There is a maternal health crisis facing Black women in America. And from Beyonce’s struggle with preeclampsia portrayed in her Netflix documentary, “Homecoming”, to Serena Williams’ near-death birth experience chronicled in a Vogue cover story, there’s a national watershed moment concerning the disproportionate health risks that Black women face during childbirth.

For the last six weeks a team of City Bureau Fellows have been trying to understand how this nationwide issue is manifesting in Chicago and what resources and community solutions are out there for Black women. On May 16 this maternal health reporting team will hosting a Public Newsroom to bring together women looking to learn more with local maternal health experts who know the landscape best!

We’ll be convening birth workers like doulas, midwives and others as open books—you can sit down and ask them any questions you have or use a question guide to get the conversation started. We want to use this ‘open book’ exchange to highlight community-generated, Black-led solutions to the maternal health crisis in Chicago.

This event will help us shape our news and information text service, The Cord (http://bit.ly/thecordtext). Sign up before May 16 and tell us what you want out of the Public Newsroom. We’ll send you resources on healthy pregnancies, tips on what to do after the birth, maternal and baby news, updates and thoughts on pregnancy and motherhood in Chicago.

Kids are more than welcome at this event! We’ll have some toys and art supplies on hand. Weather permitting, we can use the courtyard for some outdoors play.

New Moms is wheelchair accessible. Please reach out to ellie@citybureau.org with accessiblity concerns.

City Bureau’s #PublicNewsroom is a series of free, weekly workshops and discussions aimed at building trust between journalists and the communities they serve while shaping a more inclusive newsroom.

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