Perinatal Subcommittee

Membership

Starting in January 2023, a diverse network of members was recruited. While recruiting, MDH staff were focused on ensuring representation from rural, Black, Indigenous, and new immigrant families. The perinatal subcommittee has a steering committee comprised of 12 members. The perinatal health strategic plan was released in January of 2026, and three community action teams were created to implement strategic plan recommendations.  

Members of the perinatal subcommittee are representative of the following categories:

• Maternal and Child Health Advisory Committee Representatives.
• Maternal Mortality Review Committee Representatives.
• Minnesota Perinatal Quality Collaborative Representatives.
• Community representatives that experience high rates of disparities including Black, other populations of color, new immigrants, refugees, rural communities.
• Health professionals, including OBs, midwives, pediatricians, behavioral health, community health workers, doula, etc.
• Tribal Nations and Urban Indian community members.
• Health Care system representatives.
• Payer and Insurance.
• Nonprofit or other community organizations.
• Local and State Agencies (Local Public Health, Department of Human Services, Children’s Cabinet).
• Professional Associations/Academia.
• Birthing people.
• Social workers.
• Family home visitors.
• Parents/Caregivers

Expectations

The expectations of the perinatal subcommittee are to:

• Center birthing people and their experiences in all decision making.
• Have leadership that includes community representative as a co-chair.
• Provide regular updates to the full Maternal and Child Health Advisory Committee (MCHATF).
• Build on partner work underway; incorporate existing feedback/recommendations from community.
• Release a statewide perinatal strategic plan.
• Create action-oriented workgroups that focus on implementing the strategic plan.

Perinatal Health Innovation Grants

The second round of perinatal health innovations grant Request for Proposals (RFP) was released in spring of 2026. After a robust community review process, five applicants were selected for funding:

• American Indian Family Center
• Carlton Cook Lake St. Louis County Community Health Board
• HUE-Man Partnership
• Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
• Ostara Initiative

Perinatal health innovations grantee kickoff meeting

Community Feedback Phase

The perinatal subcommittee spent several  months creating the draft strategic plan on perinatal health. Rather than creating this plan from scratch, the perinatal subcommittee built off and aligned existing efforts across state, county, and community level initiatives on perinatal health. Ten reports with over 300 recommendations were reviewed. After rounds of adapting, editing, and prioritization, the subcommittee created 13 draft recommendations. In late 2024 – early 2025, the community feedback began.. The goal of this phase was to gather feedback on the strategic plan and to ensure that these recommendations were reflective of community members’ experiences. The feedback was collected through two main methods: 1) a survey; 2) five community listening sessions. There were 164 responses to the survey. Of the respondents who answered the optional demographic questions, 83% identified as having been pregnant and/or given birth. The types of organizations that answered the survey were a mix of local public health, community health boards, state agencies, community-based organizations, and hospital systems.

Five community listening sessions were hosted within the Black/African American community, Native/Indigenous community, and with community health workers. Each listening session was well-attended, and participants shared their birthing experiences. 

Structure

The Perinatal Subcommittee (PSC) is a sub-group of the Maternal and Child Health Advisory Committee and consists of a 12-member steering committee. Under the PSC, there are three community actions that were created in October 2025 to implement the perinatal health strategic plan.  

Community Action Teams (CATs)

In fall of 2025, three community action teams (CATs) were created to implement the Perinatal Health Strategic Plan (PDF). Each CAT focuses on one target population identified in the strategic plan: the Black community, American Indian and Indigenous community and the rural community.  

CATs in Action

All three community action teams have been meeting monthly since October 2025. Accomplishments thus far have been:

• Held October 2025 hybrid kick-off meeting.
• Maintained 25 active members across all three community action teams.
• Created co-chair and council structure.
• Completed prioritization matrix.
• Held over 20 monthly meetings across all three community action teams.
• Created Basecamp platform to communicate between meetings.

CAT Priorities

• Training for Black doulas focused on Medicaid billing and reimbursement.  
• Creation of historical trauma acknowledgment statement for the Black community.
• Bridging knowledge gaps in western medical systems on Indigenous traditions and birth ceremonies through the creation of a glossary and video series.  
• Increasing access to perinatal mental health training for birth workers in NE Minnesota.  
• Creation of online platform for rural perinatal mental health resources.  

Interested?

The CATs prioritize centering those who identify as part of these specific communities, have direct perinatal experience, and hold content expertise/wisdom. We are specifically looking to recruit more folks from greater MN for both our American Indian and Indigenous CAT and the rural CAT. If interested in joining a CAT, please reach out to Ramya Palaniappan Ting, ramya.palaniappan@state.mn.us.  

Timeline

Phase One (January - July 2023)

• Hire internal staff.
• subcommittee membership development.

Phase Two (July - December 2023)

• Onboard external consultant to assist with aligning perinatal health priorities.
• Analysis of ten perinatal health reports to inform the strategic plan.

Phase Three (January – June 2024)

• Strategic plan development.
• RFP for perinatal health community-based organizations.

Phase Four (July – October 2024)

• Plan development for community feedback on strategic plan.
• Ongoing grants to community-based organizations.
• Plan development for community action teams for strategic plan implementation.

Phase Five (November 2024 – February 2025)

• Community feedback phase begins.  
• Ongoing grants to community-based organizations.  
• Continued planning of community action teams.  

Phase Six (Spring 2025 – September 2027)

• Dissemination of strategic plan.  
• Community action teams begin work.  
• Ongoing grants to community-based organizations.  

Perinatal Subcommittee Members