Thriving from the Start: Lessons from Mamatoto Village
This blog is a part of our ongoing series showcasing solutions that allow children and families to thrive around the nation.
A Critical Phase for Lifelong Health
The earliest years of life — including the prenatal phase — lay the foundation for lifelong health and well-being. For all young children to thrive, they must live in a society that meets their needs from the very start. In Washington, D.C., Mamatoto Village exemplifies what it means to build that kind of society — one rooted in compassion, cultural awareness, and community care.
A National Crisis with Local Consequences
In the United States, maternal and infant health remain critical and interconnected issues. Despite being one of the wealthiest nations in the world, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries. Additionally, in 2022, the national infant mortality rate (IMR) rose for the first time in 20 years — to 5.61 deaths per 1,000 live births, with the sharpest increases among Black infants (10.9 per 1,000 live births).
In the District of Columbia, the infant mortality burden also falls heavily on Black families. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2020 the IMR was three to five times higher among Black infants compared to Hispanic and non-Hispanic white infants. These disparities reveal an urgent truth: for too many families, the promise of a healthy start is still determined by race and ZIP code.
Disrupting Harmful Trends through Competence, Community, and Culture
Mamatoto Village disrupts these harmful trends with a carefully curated approach rooted in competence, culture, and community. Nestled in Washington, D.C.’s Ward 7, Mamatoto offers “safe, compassionate, inclusive, and radical collective care.” The Village is organized and operates with Black women in mind, with staff committed to creating accessible career pathways in maternal health and providing culturally resonant, high-quality perinatal support.
The benefit is two-fold: the team meets the urgent needs of expectant mothers while building the next generation of skilled, compassionate birth workers, creating a ripple effect across families and neighborhoods. As a result, Mamatoto’s work serves to combat racial and health disparities for Black mothers, babies, and their families by equipping women with the tools to make informed decisions in their maternity care, parenting, and lives.
Competence: Building a Skilled Workforce
Mamatoto Village offers a wide range of perinatal and maternal health services — from childbirth education and lactation support to postpartum home visits and case management — reaching hundreds of mothers and families each year. Staff delivering these services are not only skilled practitioners but also community leaders who embody the organization’s commitment to health justice.
Through its Mamatoto Village Academy (MVA), the organization also provides a pathway into maternal and child health careers. Since its founding, the Academy has trained more than 200 women pursuing careers or advanced education in public health and perinatal care. Many MVA graduates go on to become midwives, community birth workers, mental health providers, and lactation consultants serving in their own communities.
Recognizing that cost is a barrier for many women of color entering these fields, Mamatoto provides full and partial training scholarships — an investment made possible through partnerships like those with the Bainum Family Foundation.
Community: Meeting Families Where They Are
Mamatoto Village’s work extends far beyond traditional healthcare settings — it reaches directly into the community, meeting families where they are with practical, compassionate support. This human-centric approach organically builds a community tailor-made to care for and support their patients, and to naturally attract, train, and retain local caregivers.
Last year, the organization launched D.C.’s first-of-its-kind reproductive health pantry, providing essential items that promote menstrual health and safe sex. The pantry emerged from a clear need: Mamatoto staff noticed the lack of accessible reproductive health resources in their community and sought to fill that gap in a way that centers dignity and access for those who might otherwise go without.
The response was immediate and powerful. Within weeks, more than half of the menstrual kits and nearly 80% of the safe sex kits had been taken — proof of both the need and the trust Mamatoto has built with the community it serves.
Culture: Elevating the Overlooked Ingredient for Resonant Care
At its heart, Mamatoto’s model recognizes that equitable care must be culturally grounded. As Executive Director and Co-Founder Dr. Aza Nedhari explains:
“There is a need for hyper-local, culturally-tailored interventions to address disparities in Black maternal and infant health outcomes.”
Looking ahead, the Mamatoto Village Team has big plans to continue and escalate their culturally-grounded campaign to promote equitable access to prenatal and perinatal health services, both by strengthening their internal team and practitioner base and by growing and cultivating their partnership network. In this spirit, the team is in the process of expanding its programming to further center and honor Black women’s experiences and leadership. These efforts include establishing a full-service birth and wellness center and a Midwifery Educational Accreditation Council-recognized midwifery school for people looking to become certified professional midwives. This ambitious vision will include launching a capital campaign to build new facilities, a campaign that will invite all those in the community to come together and contribute to transforming the culture of care itself — showing what’s possible when competence, culture, and community align to combat health disparities.
Future Where Young Children and Their Families Thrive from the Start
Maternal and infant mortality are not inevitable. They are the result of systems that can, and must, change.
At the Bainum Family Foundation, we are honored to stand alongside Mamatoto Village’s remarkable team as they navigate today’s health systems while creating solutions that challenge the status quo. Together, we are working toward a future where every mother and every child can thrive from the very start.