Culturally & Linguistic Appropriate Services in Action – A Doula Training Scholarship Program

The Doula Training Scholarship demonstrates how the Massachusetts DPH-led Community Birth and Doula Initiative (CBDI) incorporated the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards into its program design and implementation. Guided by maternal health inequities data and co-designed with a steering committee of doulas, the scholarship supports doula training for individuals serving communities facing the greatest barriers to quality perinatal care. In its inaugural FY26 cycle, the program received 289 applications and awarded 91 scholarships to a cohort that is racially, socioeconomically, linguistically, and geographically diverse. By reducing barriers to workforce development for community-based birth workers, the program increases access to culturally and linguistically responsive perinatal care in communities experiencing the greatest maternal health inequities.