Advancing Knowledge and Reproductive Justice: The UC Community Research Hub (UC Community Research Hub) is a partnership between UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco. The UC Community Research Hub aims to train community members, faculty, staff, and learners in community research - a participatory approach that includes community members as meaningful partners throughout the entire research process.
Our work is centered around birth and reproductive justice, recognizing the unconscionable maternal and reproductive health inequities in the United States. Black women and birthing people are 3 to 4 times more likely to die during childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications in comparison to white women and birthing people. Data shows that 65% of maternal deaths experienced by Black women and birthing people could have been preventable. This inequity follows infants born to Black women and birthing where their infants are 3 to 4 times more likely to die during childbirth and before their first birthday. The UC Community Research Hub acknowledges that structural racism is the driver of these inequities, yet many academic and policy institutions lack the tools to dismantle it.
Our training was built on the following three frameworks:
Community-Based Participatory Research:
a collaborative approach that involves parties from multiple sectors, including community members, community-based organizations, and healthcare systems, throughout the entire research process aimed to identify communities' strengths to address social and health inequities.
Reproductive and Birth Justice:
an intersectional, feminist social movement, theory, and praxis conceived of by Black women in the United States who did not see their lives represented in mainstream feminist rhetoric around individual reproductive “choice” and singular focus on abortion access. As a result, reproductive justice is concerned with promoting the right to have children, to not have children, to parent with dignity, as well as to sexual and bodily autonomy while acknowledging the struggles for racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice; comprehensive immigration and prison reform; and universal access to affordable and high-quality health care throughout the life course.
Anti-Racist Practice and Research:
a praxis and research paradigm that requires “the rejection of the racist ideology, practices, and behaviors in oneself; the active opposition of all forms of racism in individuals and institutions; and the advocacy of individual conduct, institutional practices, and cultural expressions that promote inclusiveness and interdependence and acknowledge and respect racial differences.” Key elements of an anti-racist praxis are reflexive relational practice, structural power analysis, systems change theory, sociopolitical education, and monitoring progress.
Our vision is to shift power from academic institutions to community members and organizations to lead research efforts centered on reproductive and birth justice.