Our final cohort reflects the communities we serve—BIPOC, LGBTQQIA+, and Alabamians from across the state—ensuring that the stories, strategies, and digital organizing we build together are grounded in lived experience and collective liberation.

The selection process was not easy. Every applicant brought passion, creativity, and a deep commitment to Reproductive Justice. While we unfortunately couldn’t accept everyone this round, we are grateful for the time, energy, and brilliance that each person brought to this process.

To the 12 Digital Defenders stepping into this role: welcome. Your voices matter. Your lived experiences are expertise. And together, we are building the narrative landscape our communities deserve.

Stay tuned because this is just the beginning!

Guided by our commitments to truth as liberation, collective leadership, cultural strategy, and narrative power-building, the Digital Defenders program strengthens our community’s ability to shape its own stories and resist harmful narratives.

This inaugural cohort reflects the communities we serve across Alabama: predominantly BIPOC, queer, and grounded in the everyday realities of navigating restrictive and hostile systems. Their perspectives are the foundation of this work.

Check out ABEI website here:
https://alabamabirthequityinitiative.org/pressd 

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Dr. Yashica Robinson, founder of Alabama Birth Center in Huntsville, said that access to prenatal care in rural counties makes a major difference in infant mortality. In 2023, the child mortality rate for Black Alabamians was 13.1 deaths per 1,000 births. That is 56% higher than White Alabamians.

The abortion fund @yellowfund.bsky.social recently announced it would halt funding and support for callers with appointments at any Planned Parenthood affiliate—not just PPSE—due to the allegations. Yellowhammer said it was already working with indie clinics most as that was better for patients

We appreciate it so much!

Authentic community engagement means being in sustained relationship through care, not extracting data for external advocacy. Trust is infrastructure.

Together, we're building a stronger, more resilient community through client-led support.

Broadly we have to stop separating “services” from “systems change.” Care provision builds the relationships that enable organizing, advocacy, and power building. Philanthropic and public health frameworks that fund one or the other miss how transformative work actually happens.

Headed by Shakeyla Sumlin, we work to address disparities in our communities by providing monthly stipends, assistance for parents dealing with DHR/CPS, one-time assistance for urgent needs like housing deposits, groceries, bill payments, car repairs, and school supplies, and much more.