We are a volunteer effort to encourage better birth outcomes by providing practical support to women during pregnancy and for one year after the birth of their children. The first Birthing Project began in Sacramento, California in 1988 as a community service project comprised of volunteers Sister friends who provided one-on-one support to pregnant teens and women to lower Infant Mortality. In June 1992, The Birthing Project was featured in Essence Magazine. The response from women all over the country to become involved in their own communities was overwhelming. The Birthing Project concept has grown into a nationally recognized model which has been replicated in over 70 communities in the United States, Canada and Honduras. This sisterhood of Birthing Projects is provided with technical and practical support through our national resources center and is known throughout the country as Birthing Project USA: The Underground Railroad for New Life. At any given time, there are approximately thirty Birthing Projects in action - operating from homes, churches, services groups, places of employment, clinics, health departments and hospitals - any place where a group of ten women can commit to being conductors on The Underground Railroad for 18 months.
