Healing Through Storytelling: One-Year Celebration

This is more than an anniversary. It's a testament to what happens when women's stories are treated as worthy of dignity & permanence.
About this Event

The Birth Justice Project represents a landmark effort to center the lived experiences of Black, Indigenous , Latinx marginalized families in shaping equitable reproductive care. Through a community-based participatory research process (CBPR), our anthology documented and elevated narratives that expose local systematic barriers including: predatory use of isolation, medical abandonment, inhumane treatment as well implicit/explicit provider bias. By collecting these testimonies, the Project created a powerful body of evidence that validated the realities of birthing people too often excluded from formal research and policymaking.

In 2022, UT at San Antonio professors Alejandra Elenes, Ph.D and Kirsten Gardner, Ph.D, stepped forward as PIs for Democratizing Racial Justice, a creative research initiative in partnership with community-based organizations across SA. With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project established a new vision for higher education grounded in social transformation.

**Project Management Team**
Amanda Onochie, CNP, CHW of AB Community Development Solutions,
Cihuatlatohki Laura Rios-Ramirez, MSOL of De Corazon Circles,
Luissana Santibañez of De Corazon Circles,
Brenda Sendejo, PhD of Brenda Sendejo Consulting

**Co-Authors **
Shaquirra Anderson
Lauren Wallace-Salami
Katrina Freeman
Valerie Morales
Rebecca Vargas
Edaidria Heaggs
Brittany Scott
Enjoli Mallet
Claudy Gutierrez
Brendaly Gutierrez
Maritza Mendoza
Candace Kerr
Turkessa C.Watson
Suani Gutierrez
Fanny Portillo
Lizbeth Chavarria
Jessica Esquivel
Lourdes Terrazas

Agenda

🕑: 12:00 PM
Gallery Walk: Healing Through Storytelling

Info: Take a self-guided tour through the narratives of our Community Ambassadors.

🕑: 12:00 PM
Handmade Vietnamese Lunch

Info: Enjoy a delicious meal prepared by Buddhist Master Thầy Thiện & the Temple monks.

🕑: 12:30 PM
Analysis Dissemination & CER Panel

Info: Learn more about the project and how momentum is continuing through research & community-led coalitions.

🕑: 01:35 PM
State of SA Panel & Surprise Announcement

Info: Special guests will chime in on what's currently happening in the birth justice landscape and in what's to come in the very near future.

🕑: 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM
Reception

Info: Engage with Community Ambassadors, Project Partners and fellow guests