The Root

A nonprofit organization

Prior to last summer, The Root has operated as a business in Sacramento since 2018.  Last year, we re-organized as a non-profit organization under a new mission with the plan to expand our services into other areas of Sacramento, with an emphasis on serving low-income and marginalized clients and expanding our reach.  We are the only Maternal and Family community organization in the greater Sacramento region that helps fill the gaps in maternal healthcare by providing culturally competent and non-biased birth education, perinatal fitness and community care for pregnant and new families in the area.  There are other organizations that give access to doula services or parenting services in silos, but we are the only ones who provide the trifecta of fitness, yoga and community. Our expanded mission endeavors to provide support and programming that expands community, health and wellbeing for families in the Greater Sacramento region. Our goal in 2025 is to expand our services into the South Sacramento area, and to provide more programming to support the continued health and wellbeing of our families once they move past their childbearing years. 

Giving Activity

Mission

Our mission is to provide support and programming that expands community, health and wellbeing for families in the Greater Sacramento region.

Needs

Our organization is in need of donations, sponsorships and funding to fund our programming at new pilot locations in South Sacramento. We also welcome new volunteer support in these expansion efforts.

Equity Statement

Statement of The Root’s Commitment to Equity, Inclusivity and Anti-Racism.

At the Root, we are committed to providing services and support to families with diverse needs, including but not limited to, all abilities, ethnic backgrounds, sizes, races, religions, socioeconomic statuses, gender identities or expressions, and sexual orientations.

The United States in general has an abysmal track record for maternal death rates compared to other high income countries. According to the CDC’s Pregnancy-Related Mortality Surveillance System (PMSS) over the course of a decade, 2007-2016 the pregnancy related mortality death rate has been rising and continues to rise. Among these statistics:

Non-Hispanic Black and Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native birthing people experienced higher deaths (40.8% and 29.7%, respectively) than all other racial/ethnic populations (white death rate was 12.7%, Asian/ Pacific Islander death rate was 13.5% and Hispanic death rate was 11.5%). This was 3.2 and 2.3 times higher than for white birthing persons – and the gap widened among older age groups.

For birthing persons over the age of 30, the death rate Black and American Indian/Alaska Native birthing people was four to five times higher than it was for white women.

The death rate for Black birthing people with at least a college degree was 5.2 times that of their white counterparts.

Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color endure these rates due to systemic racism and healthcare inequities. We, as a team, are committed to doing the anti-racist work on ourselves, having the hard conversations as a team and in our community to unpack our own privilege as white, white passing and non-Black identifying people of color and to be a part of the change to make this world a better and more just place for both our and your babies to grow and thrive in.

We pledge our cultural humility to this village of parents, knowing that cultural humility constitutes a humble and respectful attitude toward individuals of cultures other than our own, and that this attitude pushes one to challenge their own cultural biases, and approach learning about different cultures and lived experiences as a lifelong goal and process.

We welcome supporting all family structures, including but not limited to LGBTQIA2S+ families, single parent families, two parent families, families with more than two parents, adoptive parents, surrogates and more. Please share your preferred pronouns with us! There will be a space for this when registering for classes as well. But we want to get it right and respect how you identify.

Trump has rolled back healthcare patient protections against discrimination for the LGBTQIA2S+ community. These protections can mean life or death and include giving doctors the rights to withhold lifesaving treatment for people because they are transgender. We are committed to The Root being a safe and inclusive space for all families and continuing to advocate for inclusivity in the birth community.

As a part of this commitment to facilitate further growth in these areas we will:

Require all employees and highly encourage all contractors/affiliates to complete the Family-Building providers training through Family Equality Open Door Professional Training program

Because this work is an inside-job, require all employees and highly encourage all contractors/affiliates to read at least one book on Anti-Racism. Dedicate part of our team meetings to check-in on this work.

Offer a scholarship in every Childbirth & Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding class with first priority to parents who identify as Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color, Differently-Abled or LGBTQIA2S+. To inquire about scholarships email kellie@sacroot.com while our form is under construction.

Offer a monthly scholarship Birth Story Medicine Session to a parent who identifies as Black, Brown, Indigenous, Person of Color, Differently-Abled or LGBTQIA2S+.

Create a resource list of both diverse and inclusive providers in the birth space local to Sacramento to share with clients.

Continue to uplift and support Black-led organizations in the community already doing the work to support local BIPOC’s birthing experiences, including Black Mothers United and Black Infant Health by continuing to listen and learn how we can best continue to be of service.

Create more opportunities for collaboration and community partnership and space utilization for communities of color.

Create space for BIPOC leaders and contractors in the perinatal field to bring their expertise to The Root.

As the Root is an organization of white, white passing and non-Black identifying people of color, it is our responsibility to step into this work with humility, be willing to have uncomfortable conversations and continue to be change agents in the community. We will stumble. We might and likely will get it wrong. We will course correct and humbly apologize and we promise to always be striving to do better.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

The Root

other names

The Root: Birth Babies Beyond

Year Established

2018

Tax id (EIN)

99-4272718

Mission Category

Health Care

Operating Budget

$100,001-$250,000

Organization Need

Funding: Program, Funding: Unrestricted

Demographics Served

Low-income individuals/families, LGBTQIA+, Women/Female-identifying

Local Counties Served

Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado

Address

3385 LANATT ST STE D
SACRAMENTO, CA 95819

Service areas

Sacramento, CA, US

Yolo County, CA, US

Placer County, CA, US

El Dorado County, CA, US

Phone

9169542141

Social Media