How We Care for and Celebrate Black Mothers
Mothers play a foundational role in supporting our economy, society, and family structures, and the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession has underscored their resilience and just how much they keep us all going. From juggling the majority of household work while getting kids in front of online school classes to managing their own work requirements while caring for family members, moms have had an especially difficult year.
This is particularly true for Black mothers, who historically and still face overwhelmingly unequal hardship and are targeted by white supremacy and racist policies. As many experienced hardship in the last year, Black women and mothers have endured compounding and amplified hardships of concurrent crises; as they and their loved ones encountered disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 illness and death and higher rates of pandemic-related unemployment, they were also confronted with the weight of ongoing white violence and police brutality. And all of this while starting from a position of less economic security — across income and wealth — due to generations of forced overcrowding in low-wage positions and exclusionary policy choices. At the same time, Black women have managed to continue their long legacy as the backbone of the Democratic party, leading the successful charge to turn out voters in both the presidential and Senate races. While it is easy to offer momentary words of gratitude or acknowledgment of the resilience of Black women, which is certainly necessary and true, it is not sufficient. Sincere appreciation means actively working to change the systems that mandate Black women must overcome obstacle after obstacle into policies that are designed for Black women to thrive.
For all of these reasons and more, we’re elevating Black women this Mother’s Day and the policies that can better support them — including one that’s gained major traction during the pandemic: a guaranteed income. Learning from Department of Labor Chief Economist Janelle Jones’s framework of “Black Women Best,” we know that creating an economy and society that supports Black women will necessarily create economic opportunity and stability for everyone. Considering the experiences that Black women face, a federal guaranteed income is not only crucial but life-changing, providing Black mothers opportunity and choice. Research shows that unrestricted cash payments lead to improvements in health, family and extended community relationships, and one’s overall quality of life; and in channeling Black Women Best, guaranteed income is an influential policy lever that can serve and uplift many others.
In our new report, “In Celebration of Black Moms: Cash as Care,” Guaranteed Income Program Manager Ebony Childs and Director of Guaranteed Income Madeline Neighly highlight the ways providing unrestricted cash payments can support Black mothers, their families, and the collective good. The paper also introduces the idea of “Cash as Care”; a way to unlock the invaluable benefits of increased mental and physical wellbeing that have been reported in multiple guaranteed income pilots. You can read the full report here.
On Monday, May 3rd, we’re kicking off Mother’s Day week with an exciting conversation between the President of Insight Center, Anne Price; Director of Expecting Justice, Dr. Zea Malawa; and CEO of Springboard To Opportunities, Dr. Aisha Nyandoro, moderated by Fordham University Professor and noted author Dr. Christina Greer.
The panel, Cash as Care: How Guaranteed Income Supports Black Moms, will focus on how guaranteed income can improve Black maternal health, including results from Nyandoro’s Magnolia Mother’s Trust in Jackson, Mississippi and Dr. Malawa’s plans for the Abundant Birth Project, which begins cash payments to Black and Pacific Islander mothers in San Francisco, California beginning this summer. Price will offer expertise into the economic disparities perpetuated by racism and the ways we can reach progress for all by starting with helping those who need it most. You can watch the panel recording here.
We also wanted to bring the conversation home, and center the rest and wellbeing that each Black mom in America deserves. As we fight for systemic policy change and the dismantling of racism and white supremacy, we know that rest and self-care is essential. To celebrate Mother’s Day we’re sending self-care packages with items from Black women-owned businesses to the current cohort of Magnolia Mother’s Trust moms. These packages will also go to a few Black mother cultural influencers who inspire us, and they’ll post the unboxing of their self-care packages on social media to educate and spark conversation on how cash supports the care of Black mothers and women.
One of the biggest reasons to be optimistic about the outlook for Black mothers this year is the American Rescue Plan’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit, essentially providing a guaranteed income of up to $300 per child per month to nearly every parent in America. This is an important down payment on a lasting guaranteed income program in the United States, which would provide an outsized positive impact for Black mothers and for our society at large.
There are still many miles to go until we reach an economy that recognizes the contributions of Black mothers and until we create a society that provides equity across the board. Our policymakers should learn from and lean into the Black Women Best framing, and work with us to create a better world that consistently values and supports all moms.
Huge thanks to the work of Anne Price and Jhumpa Bhattacharya at the Insight Center whose work on centering Blackness has been powerfully leading the charge for years, and has helped develop our thinking. We are grateful to author, researcher and Economic Security Project senior fellow, Mia Birdsong, whose work reminds us to center what we’re fighting for — not just what we’re fighting against. Dr. Aisha Nyandoro’s Magnolia Mother’s Trust has shaped the Guaranteed Income conversation in America in profound ways, and we’re grateful to have partnered with her from the start — and in turn, our team has learned so much from her work. For this project, we are leaning into the framing and definition offered by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance that recognizes Black moms as those who care for and mother Black families and communities — whether they are trans, cis, or gender non-conforming.
