BET News reports: Black women in Illinois are more than twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related conditions

Black women in Illinois are more than twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related conditions as white women, and 91% of those deaths were considered preventable.

BET News journalist Danilo Wrightsell went to Chicago to find out who’s building something to change that, interviews President Katonja Webb Walker, Kennedy-King College and Star August,  executive director of the Black Midwifery Collective.

Watch the full story on BET: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQYVgnFor8s&t=6s or click here.

In August 2026, Kennedy–King College (KKC) and the Black Midwifery Collective (BMC) announced a new program, the Licensed Certified Professional Midwifery at KKC. The new associate degree program represents a collaborative effort with BMC to confront an urgent public health need.

The Licensed Certified Professional Midwifery program is open to everyone, and the midwifery core classes take approximately six semesters to complete after one semester of prerequisite classes, with the first midwifery cohort being offered the Spring of 2027 at KKC. Applications close mid-October.  To earn your license as a midwife in Chicago and Illinois, you must first complete an accredited midwifery program and then apply for a state license through the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation (IDFPR). For more information about the program at KKC, please call 773-COLLEGE or email info@blackmidwiferycollective.org