Our MISSION is to SAVE LIVES ONE BIRTH at a time

The Midwives College of Utah has been cultivating Midwives of Excellence™ since 1980. Competent and culturally sensitive midwives improve maternal health outcomes and ultimately improve access to healthcare.
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The US is plagued with maternity care deserts, leading to higher rates of maternal and infant mortality.

Birth is one of the most significant events in our lives. Each one of us was born. Every person we love, every person we hate, every human we have ever known was born. And a significant number of us will give birth.

However, over 2.2 million women in the United States live in maternity care deserts.  These are areas with limited access to maternal healthcare, leading to higher rates of maternal and infant mortality. According to the March of Dimes, some are forced to drive 50 or 100 miles in order to reach adequate care.

Childbirth is one of the most unnecessarily dangerous things one can do in the United States. The mortality rate for giving birth in America each year has nearly doubled in the last two decades. Worse still, Black birthing people are 3 to 4 times more likely to die during the childbearing year than their white counterparts. And in New York, black births are on average 12x more likely to result in death than white births.

Over 1/3 of all counties in the United States have no access to maternity care meaning too many families are without the conditions necessary for survival.

Midwives College of Utah trains the leaders filling these gaps. We empower midwives to serve communities, save lives, and advocate for change. Since our founding, we have trained over 2,375 midwives to step up and save lives. YOU can help us save lives too.

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Midwives College is supported by monetary gifts from people such as yourself who are passionate about supporting midwives of excellence within every community.

By supporting MCU, you are ensuring that birthing people in the US have increased access to culturally congruent, competent midwifery care in medically underserved communities in the US.  I invite you to please make a donation and save lives one birth at a time.  Together, we can deliver hope.

Thank you for your support.

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Hear from our students:

“After a horrible first birth experience at the hospital it was clear that the facility and staff were racist and treated Native Americans poorly. With my second baby I looked into different options and learned about midwifery, I fell in love with the overall care I received and I want everyone to have the opportunity to experience it. As a midwife I want to help my community eliminate some barriers and to limit the discrimination that they would have to face at the only local hospital in our area.”

-Hope Mayotte, MCU Student

“I am the mother of five beautiful black children, and during my last pregnancy I was treated completely differently than I ever had been. Although I had always wanted to be involved in birth work for as long as I can remember, it was my horrible treatment in 2018 that prompted me to become a CPM. I simply want to be the change I want to see. I want to help bridge the divide that we see now.”

-Jennifer Silvera, MCU Student

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Scholarship

MCU believes that all individuals who seek midwifery education should be able to access it. Unfortunately, too often, this is not a reality, and midwifery education, along with the midwifery profession at-large, suffers without diverse communities and representation. We want to continue to be the change we wish to see in the midwifery community; therefore, we have created an initiative to advance social justice, anti-racism, anti-oppression and equity efforts within our college and the midwifery profession at large.

Briana Blackwelder is an MCU graduate and friend of MCU who left this earth at the tender age of 28. Listen and learn from Briana as she shares her own philosophy about womanhood and birth. In honor of Briana’s wisdom and personal philosophy, MCU offers two scholarships that provide complete tuition relief: 1) Social Justice and Health Equity Scholarship; and 2) Equal Access Scholarship. With these scholarships, MCU strives to advance our goals by ensuring inclusive representation and support of diverse social identities and locations in midwifery education, including racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds.

Recipients of the scholarships will receive three semesters of tuition relief (i.e. tuition waivers) per year with the option for continuation of the scholarship, based upon continued eligibility, for up to four years of tuition relief.

Recipient Testimonials

Receiving the Briana Blackwelder scholarship has made it possible for me to have access to an outstanding program and move closer to my dream of serving people in my community while working towards fighting inequity in maternal healthcare.  Having received this scholarship has made all the difference on my journey.”
Heather Walker

MCU Student

Before tonight (Graduation Ceremony), there were zero black Certified Professional Midwives in St. Louis in 2019. But thanks to the Midwives College of Utah and the Brianna Blackwelder Scholarship Fund, we are able to provide accessible and affordable midwifery and doula care in urban Saint Louis.
Brittany "Tru" Kellman, MCU Alumna

MCU Alumna, Jamaa Birth Village

Help us save lives one birth at a time