A San Francisco-based guaranteed income program will be paying Black Women $1000 a month for their entire pregnancy and a few additional months.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health announced Tuesday that the program received $5 million dollars to expand its program that sends monthly checks to pregnant Black Women.

Since 2021, The Abundant Birth Project has given an additional $1,000 a month to 150 at-risk pregnant women of color to help reduce racial birth disparities they comparatively have to face.

After receiving a multi-million dollar state grant from the California Department of Social Services, the program will be working with local health organizations to help 425 mothers who reside in Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles and Riverside counties for the next few years. The program hopes to continue growing and adding on more people to help as it expands.

Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco Director of Health stated:

Thank you to the state of California for this crucial investment in the Abundant Birth Project as it works diligently to minimize racial health disparities caused by financial stressors. We are so proud and excited to see a San Francisco program grow to help hundreds more Black birthing parents in California and give infants the best chance for a healthy start in life.

This program was put together by the city’s public health department and an organization called Expecting Justice.

Expecting Justice stated the program was put in place because women of color face institutional and structural racism in the health industry and other industries, which leaves them with greater financial problems, without basic needs, and worsened health conditions, on top of Black women disproportionately reporting how mistreated they are in the healthcare system, especially during pregnancies. The organization says its approach is to financially supplement women of color to help them through these disparities.

Dr. Zea Malawa, director of Expecting Justice stated:

For so long, Black women have been excluded from the resources needed to have safe and healthy pregnancies. This funding will provide pregnant people with economic stability during this critical phase in their lives while allowing public health institutions to test a novel and promising public health intervention.

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