On January 2024 The Student-Parents Organization and the Dominican Studies Group teamed up with Maya Hernández and Sofia Stafford, doulas from the collective Doulas en Español, to organize a series of workshops for newly arrived pregnant migrants. The initiative emerged out of the realization that pregnant asylum seekers have had little access to crucial information related to navigating the hospital system and other relevant institutions as well as in culturally navigating the city and accessing key resources for this stage in order to carry a safe and healthy pregnancy.

The workshops also aim to connect pregnant women with doulas in their areas, to raise funds for those who are located in zip codes where the current doula programs are not available (through this fundraiser) and to collect community donations for essential maternity, post-partum and baby items.

After initial outreach via established mutual aid networks with newly arrived migrants, putting out multilingual calls (in Spanish, Portuguese and French), we hosted our first workshop on March 1st, kicking off Women’s History Month.

16 expecting women and mothers with newborns from West Africa, Central and South America attended the workshop. Insurance navigators from The LGBT Center were also present to enroll participants in insurance plans and to answer questions. During this first session we also introduced participants to what doula services entail and documented the most crucial needs of these families.

The families enjoyed a warm nutritious meal courtesy of La Morada Mutual Aid Kitchen thanks to financial support by The Center for the Humanities.

As donations continued pouring in throughout the following weeks, we organized a second workshop on March 15. There were 20 pregnant women and 5 new mamitas in attendance along with 15+ children and spouses. That day we distributed tons of baby and maternity clothes, 4 breast pumps, 4 car seats, a toddler stroller, baby bathtubs, bassinet, bottles, baby formula, baby wipes, and infinite amount of toys and other very needed items. The families also enjoyed a prenatal stretching and Zumba session with a professional instructor courtesy of a donor.

In maintaing our mutual aid praxis, for lunch we had Venezuelan arepas by Ana’s Arepas, made with love by another migrant mother that lives in the migrant shelter system. The arepas were a hit, a culturally relevant meal that many mothers missed eating.

For this second session, that focused on lactation information and support, we set-up an information table with free community resources and materials with information on lactation and perinatal care.

Many left with tears of joy, feeling grateful for having had a space to get together and get to know others in similar situation. Here they have a safe place to talk and be heard, a space to get organized politically and for their children to run around and play joyfully. In this sense, these workshops and its spaces have become third places. Distinctly from first spaces (homes) and second spaces (work place), third spaces serve as sites of respite to gather and interact and where people find relaxation (Oldenburg, 1989).

We would like to thank all who have contributed with donations, funds, and colleagues from the GC community that helped sorting clothes, setting up for the event and cleaning up after.