In 2014, BHNM Executive Director Sunshine Muse and the NM Office of African American Affairs began coalescing key stakeholders, black birth workers, birth justice advocates and public health professionals to address birth equity issues through legislation that passed unanimously, and was the first piece of legislation in the history of our state to prioritize Black infant and maternal health outcomes.

The Farm to Table Program ran from 2020-2023, the program closed in October 2023 due to lack of funding. The Farm to Table Program was a 3 year community-based project that helped to get black and brown people of all ages connected to the land, to increase healthy food access, and to resist food segregation.

The Young Parents Empowerment Program began in 2021. In the first three quarters of 2022 BHNM was contracted by the First Born® Program in New Mexico to create curriculum by and for young BIPOC parents to add to the program’s existing Racial Identity Development Curriculum. Together the young parents created culturally relevant training and support for parents and the home visitors who serve them. We chose this approach because as an organization, we believe that communities have the solutions to the problems they face. In keeping with this framework, it only made sense to resource young BIPOC parents to teach home visitors what their needs are.

New Mexico’s Black and Indigenous Maternal Health Policy Coalition began its work in 2020 at a time when the world was ripe for change. The work of New Mexico’s Black and Indigenous Maternal Health Policy Coalition reflects community driven and designed solutions to maternal child health issues that disproportionately impact Black and Indigenous communities both locally and nationally. The Coalition operates from a shared equity framework and value system that uplifts our cultural heritage and the priorities and solutions that come from, and are culturally congruent with, our needs and values.

Black Health New Mexico is excited to introduce our educational offering on all the things we can cover related to our sexual health. We know that our unique stories and experiences as Black and BIPOC women are often excluded from most sex ed curriculums. It is with delight and courageous joy that we serve up this offering.

Black Health New Mexico’s Community Health Workers focus on perinatal mental health throughout the life course. Our CHWs provide an array of services including: leading BIPOC parenting and childbirth classes, supporting elder mothers within our communities with transportation to and from medical appointments, collaborating with other CHW teams around the state to amplify BIPOC thought leadership, providing lactation support for new parents, and offering emotional support in the form of healing and talking circles for young parents, and advocating for the rights of BIPOC people in healthcare settings.