AMCB has offered several immersive experiences for staff and Board members that have allowed us to live our values and practice our policies and procedures that are currently in place. AMCB recognizes that this is a journey and takes advantage of every learning opportunity as we continue on to advance progress on this important work with an aim of achieving this goal.
1. All staff, committee members, and Board members undergo ongoing DEIA training
a. Reading and open discussion of “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism”, by Dr. Robin DiAngelo
b. “From COVID-19 to George Floyd: Exploring Our Emotions and Moving Forward with Intention and Purpose” – Ivy Planning Group
c. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Executive Thinking and Learning Session – Ivy Planning Group
d. Micro Triggers Online Workshop – Ivy Planning Group (planned for 2022)
2. The Board of Directors is comprised of a diverse group of individuals who, as a group, have a wide range of characteristics, seen and unseen, which they were born or have acquired. These characteristics may include their gender identity, race or ethnicity, military or veteran status, LGBTQ+ status, disability status, and more. The AMCB Recruitment Policy can be found here.
3. Each individual committee is also comprised of a diverse group of subject matter experts (CMs & CNMs). We recruit members for committees who have a wide range of characteristics, seen and unseen, which they were born or have acquired. These characteristics may include their gender identity, race or ethnicity, military or veteran status, LGBTQ+ status, disability status, and more as frequently as possible. The AMCB Recruitment Policy can be found here.
4. Since 2019 the CMP Committee has been on an intentional journey to include articles that address equity/inclusion/antiracism issues as an embedded thread in each module. These articles cover not only ethnic and racial equity, but also seen and unseen disabilities and gender issues.
5. AMCB committees are conducting an intentional review of all documents that will reflect inclusive language for all to ensure alignment with our values.
6. All candidates have the opportunity and are encouraged during their examination to offer comments regarding any test questions/items on the examination (re: bias, accuracy, grammar, clarification, etc). All comments are anonymously brought back to the Exam Committee for critical review and investigation.
7. Candidates are asked whether they require special accommodations as part of their exam application submission process. Additionally, candidates can easily find the procedures to request special accommodations in the Candidate Handbook.
For those interested in learning more about antiracism in healthcare and midwifery, there are additional resources available at the following links:
Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health
American College of Nurse-Midwives
Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education
No Time To Volunteer? Share Your Ideas Instead
Traditionally, AMCB has held a strategic planning meeting where representatives of midwifery stakeholders were invited to share their ideas and input. Our concern is that by doing this, we were limiting ourselves to only the ideas of the people in attendance.
AMCB is committed to the continued progress and involvement of ALL of our certificants. We believe that innovation is critical not only to the development of our organization but also to the effectiveness of our staff.
We encourage you to provide us with your ideas. Those ideas can be directly related to AMCB policies/operations, continuing education, certification, or the overall midwifery industry.
Please submit your written ideas to cbright@amcbmidwife.org. We look forward to hearing from all of you.