The Maternity Care Coalition is a organization that began in Philadelphia to advocate for the wellbeing of pregnant people and infants. Samina Bristow is the Associate Vice President of Programs for MCC.

“We started in 1980 as a coalition. And we were really concerned about the high infant mortality rates in the Philadelphia community. And we learned a lot from that work early on. And what we found was that many families were having challenges with access to services. Barriers in terms of accessing services, lack of resources.”

MCC provides many services to those in need such as home visiting, childcare, behavioral health and so much more. They also bring services straight to their participants with their mom mobile.

“So, there is a vehicle, and it is known as the mom mobile. And that really started because we really were like beating the pavement, right. As a grassroots organization, meeting people where they were in a community. So, popping up at street corners, engaging in conversation. And people started to recognize us in the community. And we developed our model bill because essentially at that time we were, you know, serving women and children. Right? Really focused on ensuring that people birthing people had healthy outcomes. So really wanting to target pregnant women.”

Those interested in becoming an advocate with the Maternity Care Coalition can visit them on their website. There’s many opportunities with the non-profit for those wanting to lend a helping hand.

“There are a number of opportunities available if someone is interested in coming and, you know, becoming an advocate, be an employee by NCC. But there's also two volunteer opportunities. There's internship opportunities. You know, we encourage people, you know, to get involved where they see themselves, right? Like there could be an event, there could be, you know, sharing of information, right? So, advocacy and being an advocate looks different for each individual person. And we want to we want you to find where you find your avenue and we want you to be, you know, change agents of that. Right? So, sharing information is another way that someone can really advocate and support us and meeting our mission and also to build an awareness.”