SB9 - Building the Narrative Power of the Perinatal Workforce through Data Collection

Data collection among perinatal community health workers including community-based doulas and breastfeeding peer counselors are limited, disparate, and vulnerable to the overreach of powerful health systems. Yet, perinatal support worker data collection and insights are important tools to build narrative power and inform state and Federal policies related to perinatal support work and potential Medicaid reimbursement. In this session, HealthConnect One will discuss ongoing doula-centric, decolonized data collection and analysis projects that are poised to advance and sustain the profession, followed by an interactive workshop for community-based organizations focused on the perinatal workforce to take a deep dive into their data collection processes and uncover key strategies to utilize data to build narrative power around the perinatal workforce and to fuel sustainability for community-rooted, peer support programs.