*Please note that this is a one-time grant for the 2023-24 Academic Year.

Members of the Barnard community are invited to submit proposals for funding to support their research, programming, and teaching related to reproductive rights in a post-Roe context. The College’s goal is to advance work that centers on reproductive justice (RJ), which has been defined by the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective as “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.”

These grants will be awarded to projects that meaningfully contribute to and help shape the dialogue around reproductive justice, the human rights of women, and the rights of trans and non-binary people who have the capacity to experience a pregnancy (planned or unplanned), and anyone who may face economic, social, cultural, or political consequences stemming from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Provost Linda A. Bell, VP Marina Catallozzi, and VP Jennifer Rosales encourage proposals that have an interdisciplinary focus and/or collaborations between faculty, staff, and students that can innovate in the approach to reproductive justice research, programming, or teaching.

The grant fund of $25,000 will support up to five projects that are spearheaded by Barnard faculty, staff, or students. The proposals are due to reprorightsrfp@barnard.edu by March 10, 2023.

Proposals may focus on

• Modifying existing courses that either center or make connections to reproductive rights and health. For example, inviting guest speakers, creating virtual conversations and projects across institutions, developing community-based learning, attending summer institutes.
• Supporting research on reproductive health equity, social economic, political ramifications as a result of overturning Roe v. Wade. For example, travel funds, equipment and materials, student research assistance.
• Creating programming on reproductive justice and rights. For example, inviting guest speakers, procuring film rights, hosting a workshop.

Requirements

Proposals will be reviewed by a committee composed of the Provost’s Office, the Office of Health and Wellness, and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Please include:

• A statement of purpose/description of the project (250 to 500 words).
• A narrative explaining how the project will further the goals of reproductive rights across and / or within the Barnard community, and whether the effort is envisioned as a one-time event or a recurring one into the future (250 to 500 words).
• An estimate of the number of people the project expects to serve.
• A proposed budget.
• A description of how project leaders will reflect on, evaluate, or assess the impact or success of the project.
• A timeline. Projects estimated to be completed by June 2024.

Any questions should be directed to reprorightsrfp@barnard.edu.

1. Building Reproductive Justice Coalitions (in Architecture, on Campuses, and Beyond)

Kadambari Baxi, Professor of Professional Practice, Architecture

Lindsay Harkema, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Architecture

Building on Baxi’s and Harkema’s respective architectural, artistic and design-based works, this project aims to build collaborations that center on reproductive justice within and beyond the Architecture department. The initial outcomes of this project will be two workshops that will be held in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. The project leaders hope that new projects, research ideas and plans, and pedagogical approaches that revolve around reproductive justice will emerge from this process. Based on the results of collective thinking conducted in the workshops, the student interns and project leaders will create a detailed proposal for traveling-exhibition frameworks that will also move to the other campuses of Columbia University. As curators and designers, they will consider specific sites, types of content, and media formats in order to create options for the potential installation design schemes that may best reflect their collective ideas and conversations about reproductive justice today. 

2. Abortion in Context: An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Lecture Course

Wendy Schor-Haim, Director of First-Year Writing and Senior Lecturer in English,

Cecelia Lie-Spahn, Associate Director of First-Year Writing and Lecturer in English

The grant will support the preparation and actualization of a semester-long interdisciplinary course, “Abortion in Context,” taught by Wendy Schor-Haim and Cecelia Lie-Spahn. The project leaders/instructors will invite multiple guest speakers throughout the semester. Together with the instructors and expert speakers, students will examine different facets of abortion in the United States and internationally. The course content will attend to the social, political, medical, pharmaceutical, and religious contexts in which abortion intersects with forced migration, racial justice, the pharmaceutical industry, and LGBTQ+ health. The course will consist of a weekly lecture plus discussion sections, focused on the complex issue of abortion. It will be offered through the American Studies Department while the instructors will propose that it fulfill Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities, and Global Inquiry. Grounded in the reproductive justice framework, the course design builds on the works and backgrounds of Lie-Spahn (feminist studies, and the policies and politics of misoprostol) and Schor-Haim (religion, gender, abortion activism).

3. Black Women’s Maternal Health and the Struggle for Reproductive Justice

Premilla Nadasen, Professor of History and co-director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women

Recent studies show that, even if they are healthy, Black women are significantly more likely to have adverse maternal outcomes. Addressing obstetric racism faced by Black women, BRCW will organize a one-day symposium on Black women’s maternal health, in partnership with CUNY’s Center for the Study of Women and Society and Collective Power for Reproductive Justice, a Boston-based advocacy organization. Participants will include researchers, practitioners, students, and community activists, as well as the contributors of a journal issue that will be published by BCRW in Scholar and Feminist Online, September 2023—an issue of that is centered on Dana-Aín Davis’ book, Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth. The symposium will build upon BCRW’s long trajectory of research and programming on reproductive justice, and Black women’s maternal health in particular. 

4. Barnard Library and Archives & the Coalition for Women Prisoners (CWP) for Reproductive Justice

Martha Tenny, Director of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Tatiana Bryant, Director of Teaching, Learning and Research Services, Obden Mondésir, Associate Director of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Liam Adler, Director of Collections Strategy, Access, and Engagement & Librarian for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Jennie Correia, Associate Director of Teaching, Learning, and Research Services, Jenna Freedman, Director of the Barnard Zine Library

The Coalition for Women Prisoners (CWP)  was an organization founded in 1994 to raise the visibility of women impacted by the criminal justice system in New York State. Their archives detail CWP’s reproductive justice organizing and policy work, and are housed at Barnard Library. This project aims to extend the reach of CWP archives at Barnard through collection-building, instruction, and programming  around reproductive injustice, incarceration, and incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated peoples'  movements for reproductive self-determination. The project will connect the CWP collection to the work of  librarians, the zine library curator, and the collections team, as well as students, faculty, and external researchers. The project leaders hope that students, RJ scholars, organizers and other participants will use the CWP’s histories in their own work, and the project will further reproductive rights by unearthing and circulating the lived experiences of CWP members and their struggle through new conversations and projects. 

5. Birth Doula Training for Barnard Students

Erin Donahue, BC ’25

The United States is the most dangerous wealthy country to give birth in. The maternal mortality rate in the United States is the highest among wealthy countries, according to a report from The Commonwealth Fund. This pilot program aims to support evidence-based care throughout pregnancy and postpartum with an emphasis on racial justice and reproductive justice by training the first cohort of Barnard doulas, and members of the Barnard Birth Workers. Doulas are increasingly recognized as important parts of a pregnant person’s birth team. The grant will fund the training of Barnard Birth Workers who will become certified as full-spectrum doulas to provide doula services to pregnant people in need. The training will run over two weekends and be conducted by Chanel Porchia-Albert CD, CPD, CLC, CHHC, Commissioner on NYC Commission for Gender Equity and founder of Ancient Song Doula Services, a national birth justice organization working to eliminate maternal and infant mortality and morbidity among low-income Black and Latinx people. 

6. The Attack on Reproductive Rights & Young Adults' Mental Health and Thought Processes around Sexual Reproductive Health

Flavie de Germay de Cirfontaine, BC ‘23/ Mailman 4+1 Student

This student-led and research-based project will center on young adults’ relationship with sexual and reproductive health and mental health. In collaboration with Vitala Global Foundation, Flavie de Germay de Cirfontaine will conduct quantitative and qualitative research by utilizing methods such as focus groups, surveys, and interviews with SRH experts. One of the goals of the project is to understand how open-access digital mental healthcare platforms can help address the psycho-emotional stress young people face while navigating stigmatized SRH choices and care. This research will inform the design and development of open-access digital mental health features that can be implemented within existing SRH digital platforms that support individuals who are seeking to make the best reproductive choices for their lives.