The Mama Glow Foundation has received a $2 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant to provide trauma and advancement treatment options for Black and racialized women at clinics located in South Bronx, New York.

Partnered with the Bronx Health Collective at Montefiore Health System, the grant will facilitate ongoing doula services that will be available during pregnancy, as well as during and after birth care at Montefiore's South Bronx clinics.

"Trauma has a profound impact on how we live our lives and how we experience pregnancy, and yet, it's not screened for at prenatal check-ups and appointments," Latham Thomas, co-founder of the Mama Glow Foundation, said in a statement. "Our goal is to address this gap by facilitating a space for personal growth and uplifting holistic solutions and community healing through the delivery of trauma-informed care."

Mama Glow Foundation is a Black-owned health and education platform and non-profit organization that supports pregnant women and birth-worker education.

Meanwhile, the Montefiore Health System is one of New York's premier academic health systems. With 10 hospitals and more than 200 outpatient ambulatory care sites, it provides accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester and Hudson Valley.

The partnership will support victims of intimate partner violence. It will also expand screening for trauma during prenatal care, mental health supports and services, trauma-focused therapy, and other methods of care.

Additionally, Montefiore will offer trauma-informed services like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, which encourages people to focus on the traumatic memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typical eye movements).

At a time when pregnant Black women are three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications, in Bronx County, the ratio of pregnancy-related deaths for Black women was 9.4 times that of white women, a statement reads.

“This potentially lifesaving initiative, which has been informed by feedback from our clinicians, patients and community leaders, acknowledges the high level of violence and trauma that too many families in the South Bronx have had to endure," Amrita Seehra, MD, MPH, AAHIVS of the Bronx Health Collective, said in a statement. “This grant allows us to reconfigure the services patients at our federally qualified health center receive during and up to a year after pregnancy. We hope to improve health outcomes, support parental and infant well-being, and create a new model of integrated, trauma-informed care that other providers nationwide could replicate to address a critical factor influencing pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality.”