The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded the Maternity Care (MatCare) Nursing Workforce Expansion Grant to Frontier Nursing University (FNU). The current grant period will end on September 29, 2027. FNU will receive $4 million – $1 million per year – to fund the grant project.
Via the grant, FNU intends to increase the number and diversity of the nurse-midwifery workforce with a focus on increasing the Hispanic population of nurse-midwives. FNU plans to graduate at least 300 nurse-midwives each year. FNU anticipates that 30% will report as a person of color, and 10% will report as Hispanic. The grant funds will help broaden the scope and reach of FNU’s marketing campaigns and increase the university’s student support programs. Student support will include a mentoring program, retention strategies, and engagement with the Hispanic nursing community, including preceptors and Hispanic-serving nursing schools.
“We are honored and thrilled to receive the Maternity Care Nursing Workforce Expansion Grant,” said FNU President Dr. Susan Stone, DNSc, CNM, FACNM, FAAN. “This grant offers FNU the opportunity to focus on an area of particular need in our country. According to 2022 data from the CDC, more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. from 2017-2019 were preventable by simply providing better care. Data also overwhelmingly demonstrate that culturally congruent care improves patient outcomes by emphasizing interactions between patients and practitioners based on empathy and respect. That is the type of care that nurse-midwives are trained to provide. It is vital that we increase the number and diversity of the nurse-midwifery workforce to combat the tragically high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity in our country.”
FNU has maintained a strong focus on increasing diversity enrollment and retention through a number of initiatives, some of which were funded in part by HRSA Nursing Workforce Diversity grants awarded in 2017 and 2021. FNU’s many recent DEI initiatives include the implementation of a holistic admissions process, the expansion of its Office of DEI staff, diversity training for all members of the FNU community, mentoring programs, an annual Diversity Impact Conference, the formation of special Student Interest Groups, and the establishment of a DEI Faculty Fellows program. Since FNU committed to DEI as a priority, enrollment of students of color has increased from 9% in 2010 to 30% in 2023. Currently, 5% of FNU’s midwifery student population identifies as Hispanic. Nationally, only 5% of certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives identify as Hispanic.
The Hispanic population typically has lower maternal mortality than the Black and American Indian/Alaska Native populations. However, according to a March 2023 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, the Hispanic population’s maternal mortality rate has risen dramatically in the last four years, climbing from 11.8 per 100,000 in 2018 to 28 per 100,000 in 2021.
“The Hispanic population in the United States is 19% percent and growing,” said Dr. Eileen Thrower, Ph.D., APRN, CNM, CNE, FACNM, Chair for the Department of Midwifery & Women’s Health at Frontier Nursing University. Dr. Thrower will serve as the director for the MatCare project. “With the current rise in maternal mortality rates, it is imperative that we address this growing need through focused and data-driven initiatives to increase the Hispanic population of nurse-midwives.”
As part of the MatCare grant, FNU will provide 100 scholarships ($5,000 each) as well as 100 stipends ($2000 each) for nurse-midwifery students annually. Scholarships and stipends are managed through the university’s Scholarship Committee and the Financial Aid Department.
FNU’s MatCare project goals are to:
- Increase the number of nurse-midwives from underrepresented populations, focusing on the Hispanic population.
- Increase the retention rate of nurse-midwives from 81% to 85%, focusing on Hispanic Nurses.
- Enhance maternal mental health training to better address maternal mental health, maternal mortality, and morbidity risk factors.
- Strengthen community-based training partnerships.
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).