On this episode of the EBB podcast, we interview Hakima Payne, founder and executive director of Uzazi Village, about her creation of the Village Circle, an innovative Afrocentric model of prenatal and postpartum care.    Hakima Payne, holds a bachelor's in nursing and a master's in nursing education. She is the founder of Uzazi Village, a nonprofit working to eliminate maternal health disparities in African American communities, as well as the founder of The Village Doula Program, which is a community-based home visiting community health worker program for pregnant families. She also created Chocolate Milk Cafe, a breastfeeding support group for Black families, the Village Circle, which is an Afrocentric group prenatal care model, and a curriculum called Culturally Congruent Care, which is an anti-racist medical education curriculum. Hakima sits on her local Fetal Infant Mortality Review board to address Black infant mortality and has been appointed by her city's mayor to serve as a health commissioner. Mama Hakima is a certified trainer for community health workers and she speaks nationally on the topics of Black maternal and infant health.    Ms. Payne works relentlessly to make birth safer, the village healthier, and to promote anti-racist models of care for African American families. She is the subject of a documentary that just came out called Sister Doula, and she's going to be featured in a second upcoming documentary called Pregnancy and Prejudice.    Hakima talks with us about her work in improving maternal health in Kansas City. Not only is Hakima bringing an innovative model of care to her community, that includes access to community-based, Afrocentric prenatal care, doulas, herbalists, a chef and more, she is proving that it works. Through partnerships with a team of epidemiologists and a local university, Hakima is able to measure and quantify their client experience and demonstrate how Uzazi Village improves birth and postpartum outcomes. Hakima discusses the unique aspects of the Village Circle model and why each piece is important to the care of the community.   Resources: 

• Learn more about Uzazi Village here (uzazivillage.org)
• Follow Uzazi Village on Instagram and Facebook. 
• Follow Hakima on Instagram @hakima_the_dreama
• Find a screening for the Sister Doula documentary here: sisterdoulafilm.com
• Watch the trailer for Pregnancy and Prejudice here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc43eQZX468

Listen to EBB Episodes: 

• EBB 274 - Honoring the Mothers of Gynecology with Michelle Browder
• EBB 260 - Midwifery, Community Birth Work, and Plant Medicine in Louisana with Ms. Divine Bailey-Nicholas
• EBB 229 - Evidence on Doulas: Community-Based Models, the Pandemic, and Reimbursement with the Research Team 

Ready to get involved?

• Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) here 
• Find an EBB Instructor here  
• Click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class. 
• Sign up for the EBB Newsletter here. 
• Check out the Birth Justice page here.

• For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com.