The Claudia Booker Memorial Midwife Scholarship is to support the education of midwives at Mercy In Action College of Midwifery who are committed to serving families from communities that are currently losing the most mothers and babies at birth in America (at this time, that is Black/African American and American Indian/Alaska Native communities). This scholarship honors Claudia Booker, a teacher and our Grand Challenge Coordinator at the time of her death in early 2020.
Mothers and families need extra support around the time of childbirth, and midwives are positioned to provide it. Currently in America, Black/African American and American Indian/Alaska Native babies die 2-3 times more often than other babies, and in some communities, the racial disparity is even greater. Mothers from these communities also die more often in childbirth, yet midwives are currently in short supply, and communities are in need of more midwives to bring life-saving solutions.
In 2012, Vicki Penwell started a scholarship, and her friends Jennie Joseph and Claudia Booker quickly joined in supporting it. Claudia taught a popular course at Mercy In Action College of Midwifery called "An Introduction to the Grand Midwives of the USA." Offering scholarships to midwifery students planning to serve communities suffering the greatest loss of life around childbirth is a practical solution, so these midwives can become, in Claudia's words, "the ones we have been waiting for."
Claudia was the volunteer scholarship coordinator for Mercy in Action College of Midwifery at the time of her death. This scholarship project has the potential for long-term impact because when you educate a midwife, she serves with skills, compassion, and a unique perspective on the challenges, often for decades. Pregnancy and birth are where the foundations of health and wellness are built that can last a lifetime, and midwives positively influence and impact entire families.
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