View the below grants and scholarships available to childbirth professionals taking the Lamaze Certification Exam.
Lamaze Expand Equity Scholarship
The Lamaze Expand Equity Scholarship is a workforce development program that aims to recruit, train, and mentor individuals from under-resourced or historically marginalized communities to become Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educators (LCCEs). The intent of this scholarship is to promote a diverse childbirth educator workforce and to increase access to high quality, evidence-based childbirth education for families who are often not afforded reasonable access to maternity care.
Five outstanding trainees have been awarded the Lamaze Expand Equity Scholarship in 2023: Essence Mack, April Hickman, Kayoua Yang, LeVaughn McPherson, and Taneka Purnell-Tingle. Five seasoned LCCEs will serve as mentors to accompany our trainees on their journey to LCCE certification and teaching childbirth education: Esther Kimani, Patricia Rangel, Robin Douthit, Barb Buckner Suárez, and Elena Carrillo.
Our trainees and mentors are excited to begin the program and bring Lamaze education to their communities.
“[I am] an ordained Reverend and Birth Doula [and am] happy to be awarded a scholarship in order to bring care to the residents of East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. According to the CDC, it carries both the highest rates in NYC of pregnant individuals that receive little or absolutely no care during their pregnancy and who also deliver pre-term. She is looking forward to engaging with the Lamaze support network and her peers as she works towards serving this population.”
- LeVaughn McPherson, 2023 Expand Equity Scholarship Recipient
“I’m excited to learn as much as I can and then get Lamaze certified to be able to help birthing people in my area, specifically the low income and Hmong people learn more about childbirth and labor that is evidence-based.”
- Kayoua Yang, 2023 Expand Equity Scholarship Recipient
“I am very honored to be a recipient of the Lamaze Expand Equity Scholarship! I’m most looking forward to becoming a part of the Lamaze community and making Lamaze even more accessible to all birthing persons!”
- Essence Mack, 2023 Expand Equity Scholarship Recipient
“It is such an honour to be able to be part of this Lamaze Expand Equity Program as a Mentor. I hope to provide resources, assistance and support to the trainer to achieve their goal of becoming an LCCE. I also hope to learn and benefit from our interactions together.”
- Esther Kimani, 2023 Expand Equity Mentor
“This scholarship is such a blessing! I look forward to learning about labor and birth so that I can teach in my community as they grow and expand their families.”
-Taneka Purnell-Tingle, 2023 Expand Equity Scholarship Recipient
LCCE Educator Diversity Scholarships
We are proud to continue to offer our Lamaze Educator Learning Guide and LCCE Certification Exam scholarships to expand and better prepare our base of educators to improve safe and healthy births for everyone, everywhere. Our application for the November 2022 and Spring 2023 exam is now closed. This page will be updated as more scholarship opportunities become available!