Childbearing Center to Celebrate Its Graduates

The International Center for Traditional Childbearing will conduct a graduation celebration on Saturday, July 8, at Reflections/ Talking Drum Bookstore, 446 N.E. Killingsworth St.
The ceremony will be from 1 to 4 p.m. to honor the women and girls who attended this year's training.
Offered by the Sistah Care health career preparatory program, Full Circle Doula training prepares women to develop professional businesses that provide women support during pregnancy and childbirth, including home help for mother and baby during the postpartum period.
Sistah Care is a 10-month intensive high school retention program for students interested in maternal and child health. The Sistah Care program offers personal mentorship to help girls enter the fields of medicine, nursing, Doula care or midwifery.
Studies show that Doulas improve birth outcomes by helping to reduce cesarean sections and postpartum depression and can increase the success of breastfeeding. Doulas can be an essential part of the childbearing experience by helping parents in the first weeks with their newborn.
The International Center for Traditional Childbearing, a nonprofit organization, works to reduce the incidence of premature deaths of infants by educating families and by increasing the number of maternal and child health care providers, particularly within minority communities.
City Commissioner Erik Sten, who oversees the Portland Bureau of Housing and Community Development, in partnership with the Enterprise Community Commission's Economic Development Fund, gave the international center a grant to increase the number of North-Northeast residents with living-wage jobs. In response, the International Center for Traditional Childbearing developed a program to train low-income women as individual entrepreneurs in the Doula field.
Participants received training in business development along with their Doula training, to prepare them to market their new skills to become self-employed. The Sistah Care Program was funded by the Juan Young Trust.
Visit www.blackmidwives.org for information.