For session speakers info, virtual livestream access, detailed session descriptions, and updates, please visit: https://thesummit2025.eventscribe.net/.
Registration and Continental Breakfast
Exhibitors
Welcome and Grounding
Keynote
Session Block #A
Morning Address: Legislative policies to improve access to midwifery care
California State Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) California Assembly District 18
Opening Plenary: Birthing Justice: Expanding Midwifery Access for Black Families
Speakers Jennie Joseph, LM, CPM Founder of Commonsense Childbirth Inc. and Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery Jyesha Wren, CNM Founding Director of Beloved Birth Black Centering & Beloved Birth Collective Kim Durdin, LM, CPM, IBCLC Executive Director, Birthing People Foundation; Co-Founder KindredSpaceLA Birth Center Angela Sojobi, PhD, DNP, CNM, WHNP-BC- Martin Luther King Community Hospital; Assistant Professor California State University Fullerton, School of Nursing
Lunch and Exhibitors
Session Block #B
Break
Session Block #C (Wellness and Creativity)
Exhibitors Networking Hour
Registration and Continental Breakfast
Welcome Day 2
Local Welcome
California Birth Equity Policy Updates
Policy and Systems Change Plenary: Wins, Gaps, and the Road Ahead: Building a Sustainable Future for Black Maternal & Infant Health Policy in California
Speakers California State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson, MD (D-San Diego) California District 39 Khiara M. Bridges, PhD, JD Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law Palav Barbaria, MD Chief Quality Officer and Deputy Director of Quality and Population Health Management, California Department of Health Care Services Carla Wicks, MD Regional Medical Director, Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity; Physician Lead, Health Equity for Women’s Health Advisory Group-The Permanente Medical Group
Session Block #D
Lunch and Exhibitors
Regional Asset Mapping
Session Block #E
Session Block #F
Closing and Evaluation
3rd Day
October 22, 2025
California Black Birth Equity Summit Advocacy Roundtable
