I first heard about Open Arms when I was pregnant with my second child. I do "empowerment" work with girls with a social justice focus, and someone from the Board met me and thought I might be interested. From the start, this organization earned my respect, and is a model for me to follow when it comes to supporting women and looking at the world through a multi-cultural lens. Open Arms Perinatal Services offers Doula support (in simplest terms, a labor support person). Open Arms embraces a world that cherishes birthing women, their babies, families and communities. Open Arms' mission is to provide services that support, educate, respect, honor and empower women and their families throughout the childbearing year. Not only do they provide doulas to help during labor, but also outreach doulas, who follow families for up to two years. These doulas offer family support and education during this crucial timeperiod--the foundation of learning for a child. Both of these intervention points are crucible moments in the life of a mother and child. If a mother can have a birth experience that is empowering, it sets the stage for a mother who is prepared to advocate for herself and her family. Doulas help create that environment. There is a mass of research that supports the fact that the stage for learning is set early. With Outreach Doula intervention, young children born into poverty have a chance to succeed that they would not have otherwise, without Open Arms.
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- EIN 91-1868021
- info@openarmsps.org
- 206-723-6868
- 2524 16th Ave South Seattle WA 98144 USA
- http://www.openarmsps.org
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Health, Health Support, Human Service Organizations, Human Services
Mission: Our mission is to support, educate, respect, honor, and empower women and their families throughout the childbearing year.
Results: 22% c-section rate, compared with 38-40% at local hospitals 94% breastfeeding initiation rate 93% normal infant outcomes (5% preterm, 2% neonatal intensive care admissions)
Target demographics: Open Arms provides services to pregnant or postpartum women. Of our clients, 84% are at one hundred percent of the poverty line or below; 10% are homeless or in unstable housing at the time of birth; 60% are women of color or immigrants; and 27% do not speak English as their primary language. Our goals are to: (1) provide women with access to quality, culturally appropriate perinatal care; (2) encourage stronger, healthier families through increased mother-child bonding and support in the childbearing years (3) decrease infant mortality rates, especially for Latina, and African American women who are disproportionally affected; (4) provide the opportunity for more women to initiate breastfeeding, in keeping with well documented positive health effects; and (5) help provide mothers with empowering birth experiences that usher them into motherhood feeling prepared and successful in advocating for themselves and their children.
Direct beneficiaries per year: 185
Geographic areas served: Puget Sound Area
Programs: We offer services to pregnant women who would otherwise find themselves alone or with little support. Open Arms provides an array of birth doula services according to the needs of women and their families, including prenatal support and parenting education, continuous emotional and physical support throughout labor and delivery, and assistance in the first six weeks after delivery.
We are committed to providing services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, providing bilingual and bicultural doulas when possible. All of our doulas receive training in cultural competence, communication, and advocacy.