Molina Healthcare of Illinois donates $250K to Chicago’s South Side Birth Center in support of maternal and infant health equity

Molina Healthcare of Illinois (“Molina”), in collaboration with The MolinaCares Accord (“MolinaCares”), donated $250,000 to the Chicago South Side Birth Center (CSSBC) in support of its facility that will open in 2025, and to provide resources to improve access to maternal health care for Illinois residents. The grant is part of the MolinaCares Illinois Health Equity Initiative – an investment of nearly $5 million to improve equity and health outcomes in under-resourced communities.

“As part of our commitment to advancing health equity, Molina is proud to partner with the Chicago South Side Birth Center to address the disproportionately poor health outcomes Black women and infants are experiencing,” said Matthew Wolf, plan president of Molina Healthcare of Illinois. “The Chicago South Side Birth Center is a vital community partner that will connect expectant mothers in historically under-resourced communities to the pre- and post-natal care that is critical to their health, so all Illinoisans are given a healthy start.”

In Illinois, 14.2% of expectant mothers face inadequate prenatal care and 34.3% of Illinois counties are classified as maternity care deserts, or places with no obstetric hospitals/birth centers and no obstetric providers. Additionally, Black women and infants in Illinois are disproportionately impacted by poor health outcomes. Community-based birth centers, like the Chicago South Side Birth Center, provide culturally compassionate care to expectant mothers that helps improve maternal and infant health outcomes, including reducing pre-term births by 26%.

“Black women and birthing people in Illinois are experiencing particularly poor health outcomes, including a maternal morbidity rate of more than twice that of white women,” said Jeanine Valrie Logan, midwife and founder of the Chicago South Side Birth Center. “We are grateful for Molina’s long-standing commitment to the development of a birth center on the South Side of Chicago and dedication to improving the health outcomes and lives of the birthing people and children in our community through culturally centered and evidence-based midwifery care.”

Upon completion, the South Side Birth Center will be the first of its kind on Chicago’s South Side, providing much-needed care for women and infants in this historically underserved area.