Our Birth Doula Grants have reached capacity.
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dou•la
/,dū’lah
noun • verb
supporter, educator, advocate for pregnant, birthing, adopting, surrogate, and postpartum people and families; change agent
A birth doula is a companion who supports a birthing person during labor and birth. They are trained to provide continuous, one-on-one care, as well as information, physical support, and emotional support to birthing persons and their partners.
The list of benefits of a doula is long, including:
- Reduces the incidence of c-sections
- May shorten the length of labor
- Reduces epidural and analgesic requests
- Increases breastfeeding initiation and continuation
- Increases birthing persons’ satisfaction with the birth experience
- Can reduce the incidence of postpartum mood disorders
- Increases new parents’ confidence in the care of their newborn
Omaha Better Birth Project believes that a family’s income should not be a barrier to accessing these essential childbirth services. We help eliminate this barrier by providing grants to eligible families for birth doula services.
The current grant value is $1,400 to be used toward the purchase of labor support services from any professionally certified doula serving the greater Omaha metro.
Eligibility:
- Must EITHER (1) meet the low-income criteria per the Nebraska WIC guidelines OR (2) be 19 years of age or less
- Must be planning to birth in the Omaha metro area
- Must be between 15 and 32 weeks pregnant
NOTE: Families who wish to have a Birth AND Postpartum doula must apply for BOTH grants. Receiving a birth doula grant does not enroll in or award the family a postpartum doula grant, or vice versa.
Requirements:
- Grant recipients are responsible for signing the grant agreement and submitting proof of income and identification documents.
- Grant recipients are responsible for hiring a professionally certified birth doula of their choice, ensuring the doula’s availability for the recipient’s estimated due date.
- Grant recipients are responsible for any cost of the hired doula beyond the grant value of $1,400.
- Grant recipients must notify Omaha Better Birth Project of their selected doula.
- Grant recipients must agree and commit to any contracts or agreements between the doula and themselves.
- Grant recipients must agree to complete a postpartum follow-up survey from Omaha Better Birth Project about their birth experience, outcomes, and the grant process.
For questions, please email our Grants Program Coordinator at becky@omahabetterbirth.org.
Select a link below to learn about our other programs: