Join Our Board

Greetings,

The Historic Jamaa Birth Village Cultural Heritage Center: African Indigenous Midwifery Museum & Library Research Institute is a Maternal Health & Cultural Heritage organization, founded, grown, led, and sustained in the heart of Ferguson, Missouri. We are a living Village, a sacred cultural institution, and a home for the preservation, practice, and continuation of African Indigenous Black diasporic midwifery wisdom.

We are a Black midwife-founded, birth worker-led, Black maternal health organization grounded in ancestral and cultural practices and guided by the principles of reproductive justice. Our work lives in the belief that Black birthing people, babies, families, birth workers, and communities deserve dignity, safety, culturally affirming care, bodily autonomy, the power to plan their families and futures, and access to the resources they need to thrive.

We are committed to building and sustaining a model of community care that exists beyond extraction and outside of traditional capitalist frameworks. We believe our people are more than their productivity, relationships are sacred resources, and leadership can be practiced through integrity, accountability, care, and communal responsibility. That model must live throughout our organization, beginning with the people entrusted to govern and steward it.

Serving on the board of Jamaa goes beyond the board seat and title. It is entering into a relationship with a sacred institution, a living archive, and a growing legacy. It means helping to protect what our ancestors carried, strengthen what Black birth workers and community members have built, and prepare this Village for generations still to come.

We are looking for people who believe deep within that Black mothers and birthing people, birth workers, and the institutions created by and for our communities deserve the power to shape their own care, systems, resources, and futures. We are calling in people who understand that preserving African Indigenous midwifery history is inseparable from transforming Black maternal health today.

Jamaa is entering a powerful new chapter, including a $5 million capital campaign, continued organizational growth, and a well-held leadership transition of its Founder - shifting into Emeritus status. As we move forward, we are building a board that reflects the richness of our communities, the depth of our cultural inheritance, and the boldness of the future we are creating. We're inviting nominations and applications for four board roles, each rooted in a different kind of leadership our community needs right now.

We invite you to learn more, listen closely, and consider whether your experience, relationships, and gifts are being called into service within Jamaa Birth Village.

APPLY TODAY

What Being on Our Board Looks Like:

  • Bi-monthly board meetings, plus a fall retreat
  • Active engagement in committees, fundraising, and strategic guidance - not just attendance
  • A genuine seat at the table in a pivotal moment for our organization
  • Being part of a Village that holds each other accountable, with care
APPLY TODAY

Board Roles

Cultural Preservation

For someone with active, living roots in Black cultural and birth worker communities — someone who shows up, who's known, who carries memory and tradition forward. This role also holds a natural connection to our work as a cultural heritage center and living archive of African Indigenous midwifery - someone who understands why preserving that history is inseparable from the clinical work we do.

Legal / Governance

For someone whose legal background is rooted in equity and advocacy - civil rights, reproductive justice, health equity - and who understands nonprofit governance from the inside.

Active Midwife

For a currently practicing midwife (CPM or CNM) who is deeply familiar with community-based, out-of-hospital care, and who can bring that clinical lens into board-level conversations.

Wealth Building

For someone who knows how to build relationships around resources - capital campaigns, major gifts, philanthropic networks - and who sees fundraising as an act of justice, not extraction.

Board Application form

We know that brilliance and leadership show up in lots of different forms - not just resumes and cover letters. So we've built a few different ways for you to share who you are with us.

Board Application Form

Board Application Form

Accessibility & Accommodations

We want this process to be accessible to everyone. If you need an accommodation of any kind — extended time, a different submission format, language support, or anything else — just let us know. Reach out to us at boardofdirectors@jamaabirthvillage.org, and we'll make it work.

Tell us about your connection to birth justice, reproductive justice, or maternal health - and what pulls you to this work specifically. This can be personal, professional, or both.
A real moment — in your work, your community, or your own life — where you put your values into action. We're less interested in a perfect example than an honest one.
Connect your experience to the role you're applying for (see role descriptions above).
Can you commit to bi-monthly board meetings and a fall retreat? Is there anything we should know about your availability over the next year?
Want to tell us more in a different format? You're welcome to submit a short video (3 minutes or less), a one-pager, a deck, or anything else that feels true to how you communicate. Totally optional — a strong written application is more than enough. We especially welcome this option if you have an existing relationship with Jamaa and want to share that story directly.