Hosting 'Mamita' events that provide a safe space for pregnant and migrant mothers

Doulas En Espanol, a collective of about 20 Spanish-speaking doulas that provide free doula services to the Hispanic community in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, hosted its sixth event at the CUNY Graduate Center on Friday for expecting and postpartum migrant mothers. The monthly event, called “Mamita” events, has been operating since January of 2024 and brings in dozens of migrant mothers from across New York City each month looking for a space to meet with other expecting or postpartum mothers, while also receiving free strollers, car seats, baby clothes and other postpartum items. 

The collective was founded by Maya Hernandez, Paz Guzman, Natalie Zuniga, Puri Carvajal, and Maria Dangond in 2019. 

“Why we came together, why we came to be, was because we realized that for the Hispanic community, this is a service that is not easily found, or it's not, it's not very accessible,” Hernandez told New York Nonprofit Media. 

The event began with hot food, which Hernandez said the population significantly lacks since frozen foods are mostly served in shelters. Participants also were welcomed to a boutique, where they chose clothes and items they needed for themselves or their newborns. Once settled in, doulas began to facilitate prenatal and postpartum groups, where participants learned about birth plans, coping techniques, and infant development.

“Especially for immigrant mothers that don't speak English as their first language, there's a lot of obstacles, especially in navigating the medical system, it makes it a lot more frightening to just have to do something that is out of your everyday, normal life, in a place where you're actually very vulnerable,” Zuniga told NYN. “Just having somebody that is accompanying you and being in a community to feel supported, you feel cared for, you have physical, emotional informational support.”

The collective launched a GoFundMe campaign in March of 2024 to meet the demands for their services to the migrant population.

“The most common feedback that we get, is that since arriving in this country, they haven't been treated like a human, they've been more treated like a number,” said Hernandez. 

About 180,000 migrants have come to New York City since April of 2022, straining the demand for city services. As a result, Doulas En Espanol has seen an increase in the demand for its services. According to the organization’s website, “A Hispanic person in New York is 3 times more likely to suffer a death related to childbirth or pregnancy than a non-Hispanic white person.” In the U.S., Black and Hispanic women experience some of the highest maternal mortality rates. According to a Blue Cross Blue Shield study, Latina women with private insurance had 22% higher maternal mortality rates, and with Medicaid, 28% higher rates of maternal morbidity than White women.

Estefany Angeles became a doula in 2022 and joined Doulas En Espanol, after working a teacher and college counselor for 12 years. 

“I had a really positive birth experience myself, I have two children,” said Angeles. “I had the support of a doula and I got to see how amazing it was to be loved and held, and that experience was so different than what I had heard. I decided I wanted to become a doula to support other friends and family.”

Several Doulas En Espanol members said they hope to continue to grow the organization, so they may continue to provide services to the community and witness better birth outcomes for the Hispanic population.

“I would love to see changes in terms of a lot less intervention,” Zuniga said. “So ultimately there will be a higher satisfaction rate in birth, less birth trauma and there will be less obstetric violence.”