To everything, there’s a season and purpose. And every good and fertile ground needs rest.
For over 15 years, the Chicago Volunteer Doulas has served our community, providing Doulas for anyone who wanted or needed them, maintaining our values that Everyone Deserves a Doula. At this moment, when Birth Justice is the central focus of many who are intentionally working to shift the narrative away from abortion access, we at CVD are intentional in executing work that honors the values we uphold. We sometimes act imperfectly in carrying out our mission but always at our core, believing that we are headed in the right direction and getting better at it daily.
The movement toward Birth and Reproductive Justice is a marathon, not a sprint. This means that as an organization of Doulas and healers, we are pacing ourselves as we carry out this critical work. Instead of being led by proposals, deadlines, and outward demands, we are turning our ears and hearts inward to do the more sustainable work of keeping us healthy and whole. This will allow us to do this community work more intentionally so that we survive. After all, we are the community that we are fighting for. We don’t exist outside of our community. We work on behalf of and in communion with, our people.
Starting on September 1st, 2023, and ending on December 31st, 2023, our Staff, Doulas, and Board will be on hiatus for a period of rest. We will return in January 2024. We request that community members needing Doula Services reach out to CVDoulas directly for services, as each is an independent contractor with their own practice. You can find a list of our current Doulas on our website under the “Find Your Doula” link. Please bear in mind that we hope each CVDoula will take this opportunity to rest, so be gentle with service requests. If we cannot fulfill your request at this time, there are other community Doulas services at the ready, such as Chicago Birthworks Collective and The Sokana Collective.
During the hiatus, we won’t totally be Sleeping Doulas. The task of maintaining healthy families, and centering healthy birth experiences for Black Birthing people, is foremost in our minds, as exemplified in our first-ever strategic plan that you can view on our website (www.thecvd.org). Our staff, board members, and Doulas, while maintaining our values, will begin to actualize our strategic plan. We will do this by integrating healing practices within our retreats and meetings.
Essentially, we are calling in the healers for the healers so that we can continue to be healers. We will be shoring up all aspects of our back-of-the-house functionality, training our new Board of Directors, and developing our programs so that they are running in a more efficient and effective manner.
We are excited to greet everyone in the New Year! We are the ones that we’ve been waiting for.
Sincerely,
Lakeesha Harris
Executive Director
Chicago Volunteer Doulas
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