CCSM and Oregon State University are collaborating to try to understand the needs in California for midwifery education ad access. 

This research is focused on using a community-led approach to design, implement, and track preliminary outcomes for a CCSM satellite school in California.

Currently, California’s midwifery workforce is insufficient to meet the growing demand for licensed midwives, with the state documenting increasing maternal health challenges, including:

• High rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, especially among Black and Latinx populations. 
• Currently there are no  direct entry midwifery programs in California for Licensed Midwives that serve populations in the community setting.

There is only two certified nurse midwifery (CNM) programs in CA. A new law requires that nurse midwives’ education transition to a doctorate-level program that will be longer and costly and not accessible to many students.

Affordable midwifery education limits the number of midwives entering the field, thereby exacerbating health inequities in maternal care. (Joynt, 2024)

Using a community-led approach, the purpose of this project is to design, implement and track preliminary outcomes for a CCSM satellite school in California. 

Specifically, we aim to: 

1) Engage community members in six informational and data collection sessions conducted in LA, Oakland and Sacramento, virtually designed to elicit local needs, challenges and opportunities; 

2) Implement the CCSM curriculum modified in response to community knowledge and enroll the first cohort; and 

3) Analyze year one outcomes for students, instructors and preceptors.

If you are interested and learning more about the results of this research, please continue to monitor this page for more information.

August 10, 2025

Sunday, 10 AM-12 PM PST