2014-2017
Mothers-for-Mothers Postpartum Justice Project was first called From Mothers to Mothers (M2M) and began as an undergraduate student project based at UC Berkeley. M2M initially focused on the postpartum recipes of immigrant and refugee Asian American women. The group successfully published, in April 2017, a well-received multicultural and multilingual recipe book that features postpartum recipes written in Korean, H’mong, Cambodian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog and translated into English. The book is available for sales at Eastwind bookstore in Berkeley, California.
2018-2019
MPJ was engaged in three major projects. One was to develop a website (m2mpostpartum.org) that shared cross cultural postpartum recipes/stories, explored contemporary postpartum realities in the USA and defined “postpartum justice”.
The second major component of our efforts was to organize an experimental course at UC Berkeley in the Fall of 2018: "Traditional Postpartum Wisdom - Implications for Contemporary Postpartum Justice". The lectures and accompanying materials can be found under the “media” tab of our website.
Thirdly, we hosted the Postpartum Justice Summit at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco on April 6, 2019 to highlight (1) Black maternal health equity, (2) current fights for justice and (3) forging a new postpartum culture.
MPJ Executive Leadership Team members packing NURTURE! bags for new moms
2020-Present
MPJ now coordinates:
NOURISH! - a program that works with Black Centering Midwifery programs to provide Black moms and birthing people 8 meals a week for 6 weeeks immediately postpartum.
NURTURE! - provides postpartum bags to new moms and birthing people that support their access to the crucial rest required to heal the body in the first couple weeks postpartum.
HUGs Café - provides space at local partnering cafes for weekly postpartum moms to gather, process, learn, and honor the shape their journeys are taking. Each partnering cafe offers parents a free drink and pastry for the weekly gatherings in a warm, friendly, inclusive, and parent friendly environment.