In New York City, as well as across the country, we are facing a sobering and urgent truth: Black women are dying at disproportionately high rates during and after pregnancy. In New York City, Black women are six times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than their white counterparts. In the U.S., the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024, more than three times higher than for white women. A quiet but powerful driver of these disparities in outcomes is unaddressed chronic stress.
This is not everyday stress; it is the cumulative toll of unsafe housing, food insecurity, discrimination in healthcare, and exposure to violence. Research shows that chronic stress during pregnancy is closely linked to preterm birth, low birth weight, and life-threatening complications. These concerns can be addressed long before a patient enters a delivery room and well beyond their baby’s early days.
MG was hearing impaired, fleeing domestic violence with five children, and expecting her sixth child when she came to Brooklyn Perinatal Network, a community-based organization dedicated to improving maternal and infant health outcomes in Brooklyn by providing education, peer support, full spectrum doula care, and access to health and social services. MG had no insurance, no stable housing, and no support system. Her pregnancy was high-risk, a risk exacerbated by the uncertainty and stress she was carrying. What changed her trajectory was not clinical intervention – it was coordinated, community-based support.
At BPN, MG was assigned a care coordinator, a dedicated person to help her navigate social and medical care, through a program funded by Brooklyn Communities Collaborative. Thanks to her care coordinator, MG was enrolled in insurance, connected to essential services, and supported as she secured stable housing.
This is what effective maternal health care looks like. It is continuous, holistic, and rooted in community.
Outcomes like MG’s are why BCC, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing health inequity, granted nearly $1 million to ten local organizations like BPN through its Strong Communities Fund Maternal Health Program. The grants support 10 local, community-based organizations running programs to address the Black maternal health crisis. BCC’s efforts recognize the importance of trusted community partners, whose work to combat the maternal health crisis includes direct birthing and infant-specific supports like doulas and diapers, as well as broader services that address health-related social needs like safe housing, food access, and care coordination.
To reduce disparities in Black maternal health outcomes, we look to what works. That means programs that embed care coordinators and community health workers into standard maternal care. It means screening for health-related social needs like housing instability and domestic violence. Lastly, it means recognizing that these external causes of stress are not just ancillary, but central, to maternal health.
Even as these programs make meaningful change for people like MG, federal proposals threatening cuts to Medicaid and maternal health funding are pushing the already-tight budgets of community-based organizations to a breaking point. Less funding for programs focused on maternal health means fewer care coordinators, fewer community-based services, and fewer opportunities to intervene before an emergency occurs. Grant programs are a stopgap for many organizations, but they are unable to bridge the gap of this funding crisis.
The opportunity to lay the groundwork for a healthy pregnancy and delivery begins well before a woman enters a hospital to give birth. Let’s commit to the policies and investments that ensure systems of support and care for future, pregnant, and current mothers.
Shari Suchoff is the executive director of Brooklyn Communities Collaborative, a nonprofit advancing health equity through cross-sector partnerships, and Denise West is the chief program officer and deputy executive director of Brooklyn Perinatal Network, a community-based organization improving maternal and infant health outcomes for Brooklyn families.
