January, 2020
Inspired to address the harrowing reality of disproportionate maternal and infant outcomes for Black families August and Jaress founded HBC to legislatively combat these issues.
February 25th, 2021
HBC authored and filed HB1041 which initiates a state plan amendment to add licensed Certified Professional Midwives to the Illinois Medicaid program that is eligible for federal-matching dollars. Tis bill also proposed a medical voucher program eligible for federal dollars to expand consumer choice for Black mothers to include planned home birth services and in-home perinatal and postpartum care services.
July 1st, 2021
Study Approved / Funded by State of Illinois’ Exploring Alternative Healthcare Delivery Models for Birthing Persons Grant.
July 27th, 2021
Star August becomes First Black President of Illinois Council of Certified Professional Midwives.
August ultimately resigned as president of ICCPM. Quoted by NPR Illinois Star explained, “the legislative representatives of ICCPM and the legislators with whom they partnered did not share my sense of urgency regarding Medicaid access.”
December 14th, 2021
“The licensure bill was a great first step. But for our organization, our work’s really just getting started,” Jaress notes.
Illinois becomes the 37th State to licensure Certified Professional Midwives during Star August’s Presidency of the Illinois Council of Certified Professional Midwives.
“This will open up midwifery for women who don’t have the funds to pay for it. It’s a human right. It should be available to any woman who needs it and those who need it the most do not have the financial means to be able to obtain it,” August explains in an interview by WTTW.
February 22nd, 2022
Holistic Birth Collective NFP is granted 501(c) 3 status by the State of Illinois
May 27th, 2022
HBC authored and filed HB 5012 which Provides that a “licensed certified professional midwife” means a person who has successfully met the requirements in the provisions concerning licensure and has been licensed by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
May 27th, 2022
HBC co-authored and filed HB 5013 which requires managed care organizations to pay for prenatal and perinatal healthcare, no matter if it’s from a contracted provider or not. House Billl 5013 adds Certified Professional Midwives (CPM) as Primary providers in freestanding birth centers.
June - October 2022
HBC convened the first meeting of the state-wide Illinois Coalition for Equitable Access to Community Midwifery Carre to recommend real-world, practical and operational particulars of Medicaid reimbursement for Illinois Midwives i.e. which midwifery services should be covered by Medicaid and how much should be paid for each service.
August 12th, 2022
HBC authors and files HB5787, The The Reproductive Liberty and Dignity Act, which requires the DPH to establish reproductive health clinics meeting specified requirements throughout the State. Provides that a Licensed CPM can provide out-of-hospital care for a childbearing individual who has had a previous cesarean section. Ensures that a patient has the right for a physician, healthcare provider, health services corporation, or insurance company to administer specified medical tests without disclosing the results of the test to a law enforcement agency or to the Department of Children and Family Services.
August 26th, 2022
Online survey in Spanish and English for 1,000 people who have given birth on the South Side of Chicago. To give a more complete understanding of the unmet needs from the perspective of the people directly impacted, to identify opportunities for improvement, to inform the design of a more equitable, effective, and person-centered maternal healthcare system in this region.
August-September 2022
Focus Groups are held with Birth Workers and Families on the South Side of Chicago to elicit their lived experience of being a birthing person and/or working with birthing persons in a maternity health desert.
Upcoming
A secondary data set is purchased by HBC from the Division of Patient Safety and Quality at the Illinois Department of Public Health. These patient-level data cover all hospital inpatient and outpatient discharges relating to pregnancy, abortion, childbirth, neonatal complications, and perinatal complications.
Upcoming
Licensed Midwife Education in Perinatal Desert with highest Illinois MMR
Establishing a new Career Technical Education (CTE) Associate of Applied Science program within the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) system Established partnership with CCC partner and location for program
