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About Uzazi Village

Advancing Black Maternal Health in Kansas City.

Who We Are

Uzazi Village is a nonprofit organization committed to transforming maternal health in Kansas City by centering the needs, voices, and experiences of Black and Brown families. Our work is grounded in the belief that every person deserves culturally congruent care, respectful treatment, and equitable outcomes throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

We exist to eliminate the persistent maternal and infant health disparities that disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities. Through education, advocacy, and community‑based support, Uzazi Village creates pathways for families to thrive.

Learn More About the Crisis

Our Mission

Our mission is to center Black and Brown families by advancing maternal health in Kansas City through culturally aligned care, education, and advocacy. We work to dismantle the systemic barriers that contribute to poor maternal and infant outcomes and replace them with community‑driven solutions that honor culture, dignity, and autonomy.

Our Vision

We envision a world where all families, especially Black and Brown ones, experience safe, supported, and empowered birth journeys. By strengthening maternal health in Kansas City, we aim to build a future where every family has access to the resources, respect, and culturally relevant care they deserve.

Our Approach to
Maternal Health in Kansas City

Uzazi Village takes a holistic, community‑centered approach to improving maternal health in Kansas City. Our work includes:

Culturally Aligned Perinatal Support

We train and support doulas who reflect the communities they serve. This culturally aligned workforce helps families navigate pregnancy, birth, and postpartum with confidence and care.

Education & Training

We offer workshops, classes, and professional development opportunities that deepen understanding of Black maternal health, reproductive justice, and culturally-centered care practices.

Advocacy & Systems Change

We advocate for policies and practices that advance equity in maternal health in Kansas City, ensuring that Black and Brown families receive the respectful, high‑quality care they deserve.

Community Programs & Resources

From prenatal support to postpartum care, our programs and services are designed to uplift families, strengthen community connections, and reduce disparities in maternal and infant outcomes.

Where It Began

The four original founders of Uzazi Village, Hakima Tafunzi Payne, Mariah Chrans, Rebecca Liberty, and Tash Reed, had their first community meeting on December 9th, 2011, at the Kansas City Health Department. Community members were invited to share what their vision was regarding community-based maternity care. Uzazi Village was officially founded in May of 2012.

With the support of our community, we continue to dedicate our time to decreasing maternal and infant health inequities among Black and Brown communities.

Our Values

Integrity

Integrity

Integrity guides everything we do in healthcare, advocacy, and policy. We stay true to our values and take responsibility for ourselves and our community. We speak and act with honesty, openness, and courage. We show up as our real selves, because we believe our community deserves our very best in all we do.

Transformative Justice

Transformative Justice

Transformative justice is a value that demands change for the better. Our justice in healthcare is long overdue. We cannot depend on a system that was designed to either ignore us or discount us. We will settle for neither. We will create our own just systems while we fight to dismantle unjust ones.

Black Liberation

Black Liberation

Black liberation means we will take up space and provide safe adjacent systems for our clients, staff, and community members. We understand the complexities of the Black lived experience and offer services, programs, and care models that are culturally specific and aligned with it. We value freedom from racism and white supremacy in clinical care and health policy and offer our clients autonomy for their own self-determination.

“For us, by us” is our rallying cry for liberation.

Healing

Healing

Healing helps us look honestly at the harms that have happened to Black and Brown people in the past and the harms that still happen today. We believe you can’t fix a problem unless you address it. But we also want to focus on self-healing. This healing does not depend on the people who caused harm but on how we care for ourselves.

We will set healthy boundaries, build relationships based on earned trust, and protect the spaces that help us feel safe. We will uplift both self-care and community care, and we will work hard to live balanced, healthy lives in every part of our experience.

Cultural Congruency

Cultural Congruency

Cultural congruency means giving care that respects our culture and celebrates who we are as people of the Black diaspora. For too long, others have tried to define our culture as less than or not good enough. We reject those false ideas and honor the strength and dignity our ancestors passed down to us. We are survivors of centuries of harm, and we are saying “NO MORE.” We will tell our own stories and decide for ourselves who we are. We will build care models that fit our lives and life up our health and well-being.

We Believe That:

Community engagement is essential to creating positive, long-term and sustainable change in family health.
Respecting the dignity of every individual is essential to building a healthy and supportive community.
Healthcare is an essential human right that should be accessible and affordable for every community member.
Empowerment comes with personal ownership of family health outcomes, supported by education and community.