By K.E. MacPhie
Shashana SkippingDay is dreaming bigger than a building—she’s helping build a future where Indigenous birthing people receive care that is safe, supported, and sacred. As the planner for a developing Native-led birth center, she’s deep in the work of creating something our communities have long needed and deserved.
The vision isn’t new. Conversations began in 2022 with African American partners in the Birth Justice Collaborative, where the shared trauma of hospital-based birth experiences highlighted a powerful truth: our systems were not built for us. Native parents continue to face preventable complications and systemic disrespect in medical spaces. The need for culturally rooted, community-centered care was loud and clear.
Now, with support from the Minnesota Department of Health, Shashana is leading the charge to develop a comprehensive business plan for what this birth center could be. That work includes everything from feasibility and sustainability assessments to a real and honest look at what it would take to train, hire, and retain Native midwives and culturally grounded providers.
“We’re consistently seeing the intersection of issues,” she explained. From provider shortages to the reimbursement gap where midwives are paid significantly less than their skillset should allow, there is no shortage of barriers. But there’s also no shortage of heart.
This spring, the center held two community input sessions to hear directly from those most impacted: Native families, Elders, and traditional healers. More sessions are on the way. At every table, the question is the same: What do our people truly want and need to feel safe giving birth?
Some answers are consistent: Native midwives. Postpartum support. A setting that honors birth as ceremony. Some more visionary ideas included a medicine garden where families can harvest with intention. Circular rooms for birthing, gathering spaces for grandmothers and aunties, a place where yoga, energy healing, and traditional medicine are all part of the care plan.
This isn’t about simply opening a center, it’s about decolonizing birth at the core.
The work is also practical. Shashana and her collaborators are thinking about how to scale the model, how to braid funding, and how to prepare the workforce. With voices like Dr. Stately (consulting monthly with traditional healing providers), Dr. Kipp (working with multiple Tribes), and Dr. Alaina Eagleshield (who was working in Mandan before relocating to Seattle), the circle is growing with expertise and experience. There’s even discussion of building a partnership with a tribal community college to train students in medical billing and other practical skills helping to remove reimbursement barriers and bring more Native professionals into the system.
The current MDH grant runs through November, and the pilot postpartum program will wrap in June, but the momentum is just beginning.
