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In October, Students United for Reproductive Justice (SURJ) hosted Nikki Hunter Greenaway (Bloom Maternal Health), Nia Weeks (Citizen SHE United), and Amy Irvin (New Orleans Abortion Fund) to talk about careers in reproductive justice.
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SURJ President LaKia Williams meets RJ leader, Loretta Ross at the Let's Talk About Sex Conference in Atlanta in October.
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An Interview with Nicole Deggins of Sista Midwife Productions
By Joye Pate, School of Public Health, ’20
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New Orleans Native, Nicole Deggins, is a local icon with much to show for it. Throughout the course of her career, she has worked effortlessly to shift the outcomes of pregnancy and delivery for Black women in the city. Her passion stems from an observation of the state of birth while working as a nurse. “I knew that I didn’t want to just be a nurse. I planned to go to medical school and I had decided to not go to medical school because, while working as a nurse, I was like this is not really good,” Nicole stated. Not long after, she became a Certified Nurse Midwife. After several years working as a traveling delivery nurse and witnessing, again, the disparities in birth outcomes for black women across the country, she made another adjustment to her career path. She decided to take matters into her own hands and dedicated her time to helping improve the conditions of birth in the city. She began training doulas, whose role in the improvement of maternal health has been acknowledged more recently, in an effort to reach more women at a faster pace. Nicole explained, “…[A]long the way I realized that, while I thought my mission was to work directly with women, that that wasn’t necessarily the way I needed to go because I wanted to impact thousands of lives and, as one person, it is very difficult to impact thousands of lives just one and one. Unless you’re a teacher, right?”
Since the startup of her organization, she has trained over 150 doulas and hosted over 10 birth story sharing circles in a series called The Birth Story Project. The Birth Story Project was developed as an opportunity to create a safe space for Black women to share their birth experiences—whether positive or negative—in an effort that would result in a collection of stories that would be used to educate health professionals about how people feel about the care they receive. She has worked with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Louisiana to create a comparative report of birth outcomes for women in Louisiana to show where the disparities are the most prevalent. In an effort to share the results of that report, Nicole travels to the regions most impacted and host meetings with community partners to spread awareness of the issues pertinent to that community.
“One of my biggest things is wanting to help people know that birth and the impact that it’s having on our communities and the way it can shift our lives is everybody's responsibility.” Nicole stresses the importance of community involvement and is hopeful of a future where communities help care for women and children before, during, and after birth. As you can imagine, Nicole’s work is ever-growing and ongoing. Today, she continues to train doulas, host birth sharing circles, and travel to cities within the state that are most impacted by these maternal health disparities.
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Upcoming National and Regional Events
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Madison Breech Conference: Envisioning Autonomy, Biodiversity, and Sustainability, November 9-11, Madison Area Tech College, Madison, WI
Wachakuy: Sacred Birth Way Training Program, January 4-11, Pisaq, Sacred Valley, Peru
Feminist Camp, January 6-10, New York City, NY
Reproduction at the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS), February 27-March 1, 2020, Philadelphia, PA
Kentucky Conference on Health Communication, April 2-4, Hyatt Regency, Lexington, KY
See all events on the Tulane Reproductive Justice Calendar. This calendar is maintained by Marianne Yu (Tulane School of Science and Engineer ‘21), so please email her your event information at myu7@tulane.edu
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SOUTH
Executive Director, NOAF, LA
Requirement(s): A Bachelor’s degree in english, journalism, humanities, or social science; 2-4 years of experience in grant writing and administration
Multiple Positions, Louisiana Public Health Institute, LA
Multiple Positions, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, LA and TX
Multiple Positions, ReJAC, New Orleans, LA
Multiple Positions, STAR, New Orleans, LA
Multiple Positions, ACLU of North Carolina Foundation, Raleigh, NC
NORTH
Program Coordinator, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Requirement(s): 2+ years of relevant work experience; Bachelor’s degree preferred
Multiple Positions at Partnership for Maternal & Child Health of Northern NJ, Newark, NJ
Multiple Positions, Girls for Gender Equity, Brooklyn, NY
Multiple Positions, Aubin Pictures, New York City, NY
Multiple Positions, National Institute for Reproductive Health/NIRH Action Fund, New York City, NY
Organizing Associate, Reproductive Health Access Project, New York City, NY
Project Coordinator, CAMBA, New York, NY
Requirement(s): Bachelor’s degree; 2 years of applicable experience and/or equivalent experience
Multiple Positions, Guttmacher Institute, New York, NY and Washington, D.C.
Community Organizer, NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, Washington D.C.
Equality for Women & Girls Program Associate, The Summit Foundation, Washington D.C
Requirement(s): Master’s degree in a relevant field; 2 years of relevant non-profit work experience
Multiple Positions, RiseUp, Washington D.C
Staff Attorney, Regulatory Assistance for Abortion Providers, Resources for Abortion Delivery, Washington D.C
Requirement(s): J.D required
MIDWEST
Professor, Causes & Consequences of Reproductive Health Inequities, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Requirement(s): Ph. D in relevant field
WEST
Multiple Positions, Groundswell Fund, Oakland, CA
Multiple Positions, Rise Up, Oakland, CA
Family Programs Director, Our Family Coalition, San Francisco, CA
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
Multiple Positions, Grassroots Campaigns, Inc.
The ReproNews job + opportunity board is maintained regularly so that students and community members can access the latest postings in between issues of ReproNews. To submit job postings or feedback, please email Marianne Yu, myu7@tulane.edu.
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LOUISIANA
Intern, STAR, Baton Rouge
ELSEWHERE
$ Legal Intern Spring 2020, National Institute for Reproductive Health, New York, NY
$ Multiple Intern Positions, Women Deliver, New York, NY
Multiple Positions, Ms., Los Angeles, CA
Multiple Positions, Our Family Coalition, San Francisco, CA
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Fellowship, Scholarship, and Other Opportunities
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Marsden PhD Scholarship - Accessing Assisted Reproduction: Social Infertility and Family Formation
Requirements: PhD candidate
Program Assistant, Feminist Camp, New York City, NY
Research Fellowships, Ms., Los Angeles, CA
Free The Pill Organizer
#FreeThePill is a national youth-led campaign to bring affordable, accessible contraception over-the-counter to the United States, without age restrictions.
Applications are due: November 1
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Join Your School’s Student Org
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Students United for Reproductive Justice, Newcomb Institute, Tulane University undergraduates
Students for Sexual Health Equity, Tulane University School of Public Health
Social Workers United for Reproductive Freedom, Tulane University School of Social Work
Medical Students for Choice, Tulane University Medical School
If/When/How, Tulane University Law School
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