Equipping families to have healthy births with dignity and reduce maternal health disparities.

Black family holding hands with toddler and pregnant mother
Young LGTBQ family expecting
Latina mother embracing and kissing newborn on head.
Ashlee, a Tulsa Birth Equity community-based doula, serving a family.
Young woman expecting.
375+
Clients Supported Since 2019
140
Trained Community Based Doulas
4,701
Followers

Find Community Support

Connect with our free community programs for eligible participants in Oklahoma.

Two young women in a park taking a break.

Preconception
Guidance Course

Navigating a chronic condition like hypertension or diabetes that could lead to a high risk pregnancy? Our educational program provides leading-edge guidance on self-advocacy, nutrition, wellness activities, and more to promote healthier outcomes for parents and babies.

Doula with pregnant young black woman

Local Doula Services for Expecting Families

Our experienced, compassionate community-based doulas provide peer support to expecting parents, ensuring you are seen, heard, and supported from early pregnancy to the months immediately following birth.

5 black women side-by-side on a bench
Logo for Queens Village with text and an icon of a woman's profile with a head wrap

Queens village tulsa

Join our supportive, safe space for Black women to encourage one another and engage in meaningful activities created by Black women to nurture, recharge, and empower each other.

Offer Community Support

Take part in our strategic local initiatives to reduce maternal health disparities and create real, measurable, improved birth outcomes for all in Oklahoma.

Community-Based Doula Training Program

Help parents enjoy a healthy birth experience! We equip qualified participants with the knowledge and skills needed to provide caring doula services to underserved populations, as well as expectant parents within their local communities.

Hospital Quality Improvement Program

Are you a healthcare professional, social services provider, or other member of our local medical community? Work with us to champion strategies that improve the quality of pregnancy-related care for all in Oklahoma’s hospital systems and provider networks.

How to Help

Join us in creating a more equitable Oklahoma for all. Discover ways to support, give, and celebrate the work of OKBEI in the community.

Proud parents with toddler sitting on the couch.

OUr Vision

At Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative, we envision an Oklahoma in which all people are centered and respected before, during, and after pregnancy.

Why We Do What We Do

Stress, healthcare challenges, systemic issues, and lack of communal support contribute greatly to these pregnancy outcomes, regardless of the woman’s socioeconomic, educational, or health status.

Young hispanic couple expecting.

In Oklahoma, Black women are 3x and Native American & Alaska Native women are 2.5x more likely to die from pregnancy- and birth-related causes than white women.

About 3 in 5 of these tragic deaths are preventable—especially when consistent community support, education, and attentive medical care are equitably offered to all women.

We’re Giving a Voice to the Need — and Finding Solutions

Black, Native, Latine, teen, and justice-involved people are much more likely to experience systemic barriers to quality health care before, during, and after pregnancy. They are also more likely to face economic hurdles and have chronic health conditions that affect their conception, pregnancies, and births.

At OKBEI, we are changing this trend for the better. We’re creating a variety of local, community-focused programs and strategies to create equitable, healthy, joyous outcomes for all parents and babies in Oklahoma.

Discover the Difference We’re Making

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Having our doula at the hospital with us was everything we didn't know we needed. Her emotional and physical support, encouragement and ability to stay calm while my whole family was stressing was so needed.
Doula services recipient
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My doula was always encouraging and supportive. She helped me to problem solve around my cares and concerns as I prepared for labor and delivery, experienced delivery and navigated postpartum. Without my doulas help it would've been extremely challenging to prepare and get support.
Doula services recipient
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My doula was amazing! I felt very prepared and comfortable for the birth of my son and the after care as well with the help and easiness of my doulas teachings.
Doula services recipient
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Maggie
Tulsa Birth Equity Initiative has been much more than a doula training program to me. It has become a community of sisters. The facilitators were amazing and insightful. This program helped me grow as a woman and a doula. It was such an incredible journey that I’m honored to have been a part of.
Community Based Doula Program Graduate
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Iterea
Being in the doula training program taught me a lot. I didn't realize there was so much to learn about pregnancy & labor/delivery even after having 2 children of my own. I learned a lot and met so many great women in my class. My experience in the community-based doula training program was great.
Community Based Doula Program Graduate
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Calen
TBEI doula training has been life-changing and so empowering. In the program, I gained a deeper understanding of pregnancy and childbirth. I also gained a sense of community and sisterhood within my training group. I highly recommend this training program!
Community Based Doula Program Graduate