About Us
BirthWays is a comprehensive pregnancy, birth and parenting education and resource center that has been in existence since 1978.
We are a volunteer-run nonprofit that aims to empower women and families in the San Francisco East Bay by offering information about choices and decisions they will face during pregnancy, birth, postpartum and parenting to help them have a safer and more satisfying birth and parenting experience. We strive to create a supportive environment that empowers women and families to make informed decisions that best reflect their own values.
Our services include classes, a newsletter, an online resource database, a volunteer doula program, a birth and parenting resource center with a lending library of books and DVDs, a referral line and community events.
History
In the mid 1970′s a group of mothers got together around the common goal of supporting families in the East Bay to have healthy babies and lower the high rates of infant mortality and low birthweight. They worked tirelessly to open a telephone information and referral line, offer childbirth and parenting classes and become established as a non-profit. About ten years later, the organization expanded to include a mobile pre-natal education project serving clients in neighborhoods with the greatest need and a began offering a free quarterly newsletter.
Now over 30 years later, BirthWays continues to offer childbirth and parenting classes, resources and the newsletter. We have also added the East Bay Baby and Kids Fair and the volunteer doula program. In addition, to keep up with the times, many of our services are now offered online.
As trends have changed, we now come together mobilized to empower and support families to have safe and satisfying births during a time of increased interventions and all-time high rates of cesarean births.
Educational Philosophy
Our educational philosophy is based on the belief that parents should have the opportunity to feel confident, informed and empowered as they prepare to welcome a new child into their family. At BirthWays, we strive to help parents achieve this goal by providing up-to-date and relevant information in a respectful, open and inclusive environment. Our classes emphasize the importance of informed choice and actively engage families to discuss the range of options available. The classes help families explore their individual values and to develop skills and strategies to facilitate their transition into parenthood.
