My Black Health is Beautiful

A new lesson plan series at the intersection of reproductive and Black maternal health.

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A Collaborative Effort

Together as partners – Melinated Moms, New Jersey Black Women Physicians Association, Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central, and Southern New Jersey (PPNCSNJ), Salvation and Social Justice, and Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative – we have created My Black Health Is Beautiful, a new lesson plan series at the intersection of reproductive and Black maternal health.

The lessons are written by Black women for the Black community.

These lesson plans are a collaboration between partner organizations with financial support from Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Fund for the Future program. The lesson plans seek to facilitate conversation among young people, people who may become parents, and people who are already parents, around the topics of Black intergenerational and holistic health, reproductive anatomy and physiology, self-advocacy, and reproductive justice.

Our Values

At PPNCSNJ, we believe that every person – regardless of how they identify or where they live – deserves access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health care services and comprehensive information about those services and their health. We know that sexual and reproductive health are key components of the maternal and child health continuum, and we are committed to addressing the disparities affecting Black women and pregnant people.

This lesson plan project is a partnership that highlights the important intersection between sexual and reproductive health, health equity, and Black maternal health. Together we will continue to advocate for continued investments in New Jersey to eliminate disparities and achieve maternal health equity.

Assessing The Impact

When we began this project, our goal was to build and strengthen partnerships across the maternal health and justice landscape in New Jersey on behalf of Planned Parenthood’s patients and the community to help eliminate disparities in health outcomes. Through the collaboration on My Black Health Is Beautiful, we have not only built lasting partnerships among all of the participating organizations, but have produced a series of free lesson plans that can be used in workshops in New Jersey and beyond.

Acknowledgments

PPNCSNJ would like to thank co-authors Dr. Dianne Browne of the Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative, Dr. Pamela Brug of the New Jersey Black Women Physicians Association, Crystal Charley-Sibley of Salvation and Social Justice, and Jaye Wilson of Melinated Moms for their partnership and collaboration. We are incredibly grateful for the time, energy, enthusiasm, and decades of experience and knowledge they brought to this project and for the quality and relevance of the final product.
We would like to acknowledge PPNCSNJ CEOs Triste Brooks and Cory Neering for recognizing the importance of this work and supporting the project with staff time and resources, in addition to the support from the Fund for the Future grant.
PPNCSNJ and The Center for Sex Education staff who worked on this project are Elizabeth Coulter, Ali Glaser, Tara Norman, Casey Olesko, Shamay Phillips, Judith Selzer, and Bill Taverner.

Learn More about the Contributing Organizations

Melinated Moms

Melinated Moms is a MOM Profit™ – a community-centered women empowerment social enterprise supporting moms and women to become better versions of themselves through advocacy, education, awareness, and entrepreneurship.

Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central, and Southern New Jersey

Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central, and Southern New Jersey (PPNCSNJ) is a leading provider and advocate of high-quality, affordable health care for people of all genders, as well as a highly regarded provider of sex education. With 16 health centers across the state, PPNCSNJ serves all patients with care and compassion with respect and without judgment.

Salvation and Social Justice

Salvation and Social Justice seeks to liberate public policy theologically by modeling the hope and resiliency of Black faith, where historically marginalized people move from lament to liberation by envisioning and creating their own community-led solutions to a structurally racist society.

The Center for Sex Education

The Center for Sex Education is the national education division of PPNCSNJ. The CSE publishes sexuality education manuals used throughout the world, with manuals that address all ages and nearly every topic in sex education. The CSE also hosts the annual National Sex Ed Conference, the largest conference in the United States devoted exclusively to sexuality education.

New Jersey Black Women Physicians Association

The New Jersey Black Women Physicians Association is a nonprofit organization and network of Black women physicians dedicated to advocacy and the elimination of health care disparities within communities of color and other vulnerable populations.

Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative

Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative (SNJPC) improves the health of pregnant women, children, and families in South Jersey. SNJPC offers a comprehensive set of programs and services that enhance the system of care, strengthen communities, and provide families with the tools they need to lead healthier lives.

Interested in hosting a My Black Health Is Beautiful program?

These lesson plans are freely available and designed for the community to engage directly with the content. We welcome feedback at [email protected].

Download the My Black Health Is Beautiful Lesson Plan

My Black Health is Beautiful is available for free! Click below to view the lesson plans now.