You're Invited! Free Opening Night Fri. January 24, 2025 Winter/Spring Opening Night Celebration
Birthing Beautiful Communities
Dear
Free Opening Night Fri. January 24, 2025
Winter/Spring Opening Night Celebration
Free and open to all
Friday, January 24, 2025, from 6-9 PM
Exhibitions runs January 24-June 1, 2025
Dear is a heartfelt tribute to the strength, resilience, and beauty of Black motherhood and the community that
supports it. This multi-sensory exhibition offers a comprehensive exploration of the work of Birthing Beautiful
Communities, highlighting the significance of care and affirmation. The title, Dear, represents both a term of
endearment and a symbol of the village that uplifts Black motherhood. Dear is an ode to the power of community
and the enduring bond of motherhood.
On the exhibition, Jazmin Long, MSSA/MNO, President & CEO, Birthing Beautiful Communities, adds:
"Dear is a love letter to Black mothers and women everywhere, celebrating the families we create and the simple
joys that emerge when surrounded by the love of a village. Birthing Beautiful Communities is proud to reflect this
village, providing culturally centered care that empowers Black mothers on their journeys of joy, healing, and
transformation. We are excited to partner with the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland to bring this
powerful exhibit to life, honoring the vital role of families, friends, and communities in uplifting Black mothers.”
Megan Reich, Kohl Executive Director, moCa Cleveland, adds: "Through exhibitions that explore transformation, natural agency, and the power of care, moCa Cleveland
reaffirms its role as a vital space for connection and discovery through art. These projects exemplify our
dedication to supporting artists who pursue the whys of our shared humanity and push the boundaries of
artistic practice and excellence."
Generous support provided by The George Gund Foundation.
Exhibition creation & design: shark & minnow
Photography: Dana McKinney, shark & minnow
Videography: Ashwin Gokhale, shark & minnow
About Birthing Beautiful Communities
Birthing Beautiful Communities (BBC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing and eliminating racial
disparities in maternal and infant health. Founded in 2014, BBC provides culturally competent, community-based
perinatal support services to families in Northeast Ohio. Through doula services, mental health support, and
childbirth education, BBC empowers mothers, strengthens families, and improves birth outcomes. With a focus
on advocacy, education, and holistic care, BBC has served over 2,000 mothers, babies, and families and trained
over 200 women to become doulas. Additionally, BBC has consistently maintained a 91% full-term birth rate and
an 83% breastfeeding initiation rate among program participants. BBC is building a state-of-the-art
freestanding birth center to further its mission of creating equitable, nurturing spaces where mothers and
babies thrive. To learn more, visit www.birthingbeautiful.org.
Photo: shark&minnow
Admission & Hours
Daily Admission at moCa Cleveland is free for those living in Ohio and for youth 18 years old and under.
$10 admission for adults living outside of Ohio.
Museum Hours
(NEW HOURS)Thursday & Friday, 1PM-8PM
Saturday & Sunday, 11AM-5PM
Holiday hours available at mocacleveland.org
About moCa Cleveland
moCa Cleveland is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of contemporary art while serving as a cultural hub for
the community. Our mission is Art Now, In Progress which focuses on growing and achieving with forward
momentum while always developing and striving to ignite creativity. With rotating exhibitions, educational
programs, and public events, moCa remains a pillar of artistic innovation and engagement in the Midwest.
Since its founding in 1968, moCa has presented the works of more than three thousand artists, often through
artists’ first solo shows. Soon after its founding, moCa was the first in the region to exhibit the works of man
vanguard artists such as Laurie Anderson, Christo, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Adrian Piper, and Andy
Warhol. Recent artist commissions and solo exhibitions include work by Tauba Auerbach, Simon Denny,
Aleksandra Domanović, Michelle Grabner, Byron Kim, Ragnar Kjartansson, Tony Lewis, Kirk Mangus, Catherine
Opie, Adam Pendleton, Sondra Perry, Joyce J. Scott, Do Ho Suh, Liu Wei, Renée Green, and Nina Chanel Abney,
among many others.
2025 Institutional Sponsors
Leadership donors supporting moCa's mission include gifts to the Art Now Fund: Anonymous, Yuval Brisker,
Joanne Cohen & Morris Wheeler, Margaret Cohen & Kevin Rahilly, Dealer Tire, Char & Chuck Fowler, Agnes Gund,
Jan Lewis, Roy Minoff, and The Sunday Painter; the Connecting Audiences Fund: Dick & Doreen Cahoon, The
Callahan Foundation, Connor Foundation, The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation, the George Gund
Foundation, the Leonard Krieger Fund of the Cleveland Foundation, Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel
Foundation, PNC, the Nord Family Foundation, and Nicholas & Erin Reif; and the Sustaining Pathways Fund: The
Callahan Foundation, Grosvie & Charlie Cooley, Becky Dunn, Harriet Goldberg, Google.org, Karen & Eric
Hillenbrand, the John P. Murphy Foundation, and Boake Sells.
moCa Cleveland also receives lead institutional support in part from the residents of Cuyahoga County through
a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the National
Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the continuing support of the museum’s Board of Directors,
patrons, and members.
Local Wave of Light Ceremony Set to Return to Live and In Person Event as Well as Virtual
Cleveland, OH - The annual Wave of Light (WOL) global ceremony will once again be held October 15 to encourage individuals to light a candle to reflect upon pregnancy and infant loss and those affected by it.
The event has grown since its start seven years ago from 66 babies being honored to 129 registered babies over 200 names called and 220 YouTube views in 2023. This year’s theme is A Family’s Support and will be a hybrid event; Streamed for families at home and across the globe, but also live and in person for the second year since COVID19 at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.
“Twins run in our family, but nobody had born any since my father’s generation. I always thought it would be one of my children that would have twins so when Samantha became pregnant with Christyan and Jayden, I was absolutely thrilled! In my excitement, I never thought it was possible that the boys would not survive. It was devastating to all of us and as we continue to move through the healing process, we are blessed to have PAIL and the Wave of Light to help us every day and every year.” Joyce Williams - Mother of Samantha Williams-Pierce
To participate in the 2024 WOL event, individuals are encouraged to register online at Wave of Light Cleveland 2024 (#waveoflightCle) Registration, Tue, Oct 15, 2024 at 6:30 PM | Eventbrite by 5:00 pm, Wednesday, October 9 to assure their baby’s name is included in the ceremony. When individuals’ complete registration, they will receive a meeting link to participate in the October 15 ceremony or other instructions if they are attending the live event. Candles with the baby(s) names will be created for those attending in person only.
The doors will open at 5:30 pm, the program begins promptly at 6:30 pm, with the candle lighting ceremony starting promptly at 7:00 pm. A live broadcast of the ceremony will be on YouTube and can be found at https://youtube.com/live/4JCiZK68Hfc?feature=share. Participants are encouraged to share and show support on social media using #waveoflightcle.
First Year Cleveland has proudly served as the founding and primary sponsor of the annual Wave of Light ceremony. Birthing Beautiful Communities and Charles Martin Corvi Foundation also provided generous support to the ceremony.
$2M Mackenzie Scott Grant Awarded to Cleveland’s Birthing Beautiful Communities, Supporting Medical Equity for Black Mothers Regionally
Cleveland, Ohio (March 19, 2024) – Today, MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving announced Birthing Beautiful Communities (BBC) as one of the Yield Giving Open Call’s largest awardees which supports people and places experiencing the greatest need in the United States. BBC received $2 million – the organization’s largest gift to date.
Birthing Beautiful Communities is Northeast Ohio’s only community-based doula program dedicated to improving the quality of life for Black mothers, babies, and families. Since 2014, BBC has worked to address and improve systemic and community structures that contribute to poor birth outcomes through culture, education, advocacy, support, and engagement. BBC provides free services to over 700 new and expectant mothers and families annually, including perinatal support doula services; childbirth and parenting workshops; life goal planning; transportation and healthy eating; lactation consultation; postpartum support; and classes and support groups to address self-care and anxiety.
“We’re overjoyed and deeply grateful for this transformative gift from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving Open Call. This generous support propels Birthing Beautiful Communities into an exciting new chapter, empowering us to amplify our impact and further our mission of ensuring every mother, baby, and family receives the care and support they deserve,” says Jazmin Long, President & CEO of BBC. “With this funding, we’re poised to continue transforming maternal health outcomes in Northeast Ohio and beyond, ushering in a future where every birth is a beautiful and healthy experience.”
You can listen to further remarks from Long here.
In March 2023, Yield Giving launched an Open Call for community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to enable individuals and families to achieve substantive improvement in their well-being through foundational resources.
The Open Call received 6,353 applications and initially planned for 250 awards of $1 million each. In the Fall of 2023, organizations top-rated by their peers advanced to a second round of review by an external Evaluation Panel recruited for experience relevant to this cause. They underwent a final round of due diligence. Considering the incredible work of these organizations, as judged by their peers and external panelists, the donor team decided to expand the awardee pool and the award amount.
“We are excited that our partnership with Yield Giving has resonated with so many organizations,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. “In a world teeming with potential and talent, the Open Call has given us an opportunity to identify, uplift, and empower transformative organizations that often remain unseen.”
More information on the Yield Giving Open Call and other initiatives can be found at www.leverforchange.org.
About Birthing Beautiful Communities
Birthing Beautiful Communities addresses the social determinants of health and real-life circumstances that at-risk mothers face, making them vulnerable to infant mortality. Infant mortality is highest amongst communities of color. The core of the program is social cohesion. BBC functions and serves the purpose of real-time learning opportunities that will increase the understanding of how and why the social determinants of health affect unborn children, and what resources are available or need to be created, to increase the likelihood of infant survival up to one year and beyond.
BBC has evolved into a multi-layered, holistic set of services that, in addition to pregnancy and postpartum support, gives local women from historically economically depressed neighborhoods, opportunities to increase their personal and family wealth through employment with livable wages and address other needs that inhibit their quality of life and that of their children and families. Birthing Beautiful Communities mobilizes community residents and organizational partners to address the social, structural, and economic determinants of health and promote health equity.
Birthing Beautiful Communities Names Next CEO
Jazmin Long to Lead Organization’s Capital Campaign, Expansion & Next Chapter
CLEVELAND, OH (April 27, 2021) – Birthing Beautiful Communities (BBC), Cleveland’s premier organization working towards improved birth outcomes and equitable medical care for mothers and children of color, proudly names Chief Operating and Development Officer Jazmin Long to CEO of the organization.
Of the appointment, BBC’s Board Chair Evelyn Burnett says, “Jazmin’s demonstrated background in both leadership and development roles – along with her service heart – made her the logical choice. She is poised to lead our current capital campaign as well as the organization’s continued expansion in the coming year, and beyond.”
Long joined BBC in 2018 as the Vice President of Fund Development. In her role she has been responsible for deepening relationships between the organization and key funders and donors. She has played an instrumental part in the organization’s fundraising success – securing major gifts from The George Gund Foundation and Governor’s Office of Faith Based Initiatives (the two largest gifts in the organization’s 7-year history).
“The challenges facing our mothers and children fuel my work each day. The pandemic forced our team to approach these challenges in new ways, teaching us lessons in agility as well as illuminating the issues that will require our support in the future. It will take creativity and dedication to meet these needs – something that the BBC team is well known for. I look forward to building on Christin’s successful legacy.”
BBC currently serves the community by providing childbirth/parenting education workshops, breastfeeding support, nutritional guidance, doula training, medical advocacy and more. The organization’s capital campaign launched in September 2020 with a focus on growing services through the establishment of a new birthing center. To learn more, please visit www.birthingbeautiful.org
About Birthing Beautiful Communities
Birthing Beautiful Communities addresses the social determinants of health and real-life circumstances that at-risk mothers face, making them vulnerable to infant mortality. Infant mortality is highest amongst communities of color. The core of the program is social cohesion. BBC functions and serves the purpose for real time learning opportunities that will increase the understanding of how and why the social determinants of health affect unborn children, and what resources are available or need to be created, to increase the likelihood of infant survival up to one year and beyond.
BBC has evolved into a multi-layered, holistic set of services that, in addition to pregnancy and postpartum support, gives local women from historically economically depressed neighborhoods, opportunities to increase their personal and family wealth through employment with livable wages, and address other needs that inhibit their quality of life and that of their children and families. Birthing Beautiful Communities mobilizes community residents and organizational partners to address the social, structural and economic determinants of health and promote health equity.
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