Roots of Labor Birth Collective, Oakland, CA (2026)

About Roots of Labor Collective

RLBC’s partnership with UCSF began in 2013 when the East Bay Community Birth Support Project grew out of a collaboration between two organizations working on birth justice issues in the Bay Area. RLBC’s doulas are people of color from all different backgrounds coming together to serve clients from various communities in Alameda County. These clients are mostly l

ow-income and from communities of color, who are utilizing social services. By providing continuous birth labor support, clients have improved birth outcomes and overall patient satisfaction. The doulas themselves are also served by being a part of the collective. Having a diverse group of members allows maximum learning through peer to peer support, workshops and skill sharing. This allows for a wide range of options for the clients that RLBC serves. Core Values

We are a part of the birth justice movement

We support birthing people of all sizes, genders and family structures

We are here to work with POC, marginalized low-income folk

We promote the sustainability of doula work

This collective aims to sustain the entrepreneurship of the profession of doula by using this as a training model for creating new doulas

Our goal is to provide the tools and knowledge for the healthiest babies and birth experiences.

08/04/2026

🌿 Birthworkers of the Global Majority, this space is for you. 🌿

Being a birthworker is sacred work. It is also demanding work. We carry stories, hold families through profound transitions, navigate systems not built for us, and often do it while carrying our own lives, communities, and healing.

You deserve a place where you don’t have to explain yourself.
Join us for a Doula Circle—a gathering created exclusively for birthworkers of the global majority to rest, reflect, connect, and be in community with one another.

This isn’t another training or networking event. It’s a chance to exhale. To celebrate wins, unpack challenges, share wisdom, ask questions, and remember that none of us were meant to do this work alone.

Whether you’re a seasoned birthworker or just beginning your journey, there is a place for you in the circle.

✨ Come as you are.
✨ Bring your whole self.
✨ Leave a little more nourished than when you arrived.

📍 Virtually
📅 Aug 4 & Aug 18
🕒 6-8pm

📍 IRL Oakland
📅 Aug 29
🕒 2-4pm

🔗 Register: bit.ly/communitydoulacircle

Tag a birthworker who should be in the room.
We can’t wait to gather with you. 🤎

04/22/2026

It’s almost May and we’re shifting the container a little 🌿

Alongside our virtual Doula Circles (next one is TODAY btw) we’re gathering IRL in Oakland next month!

Join us for an in-person circle for BIPGM birthworkers - a space to check in and be in community with folks who understand the work and what it asks of us. We welcome all birthworkers descended from the global majority: come to connect and receive support from each other.

Cost: FREE!

Kids welcome, and the space is wheelchair & stroller accessible. There’s plenty of free street parking in the neighborhood, and the venue is about a 20 minute walk from Ashby BART stop.

We’ll keep it grounded and spacious.

Come with what’s on your mind, or just come to be held.
We’re tending this space with care - centering access, consent, and collective safety.

We’ll share more details (including accessibility notes + how to move in ways that support each other) at the RSVP link.

📍 Oakland
🗓 May 2 (10am-12pm)
🔗 Link in bio for details + RSVP

02/28/2026

Y’all! Y’ALL!!

We are at 21% of our goal and 63 of you have contributed and countless more have shared and like and commented and reposted. Thank you so much for all the ways y’all show up. We are deeply grateful and we’re not done yet. Let’s keep it going all the way!

We really about to have a jail-based doula training completely funded by community. Come on now!!

If you believe care belongs everywhere, especially inside carceral spaces, this is your moment.

👏🏽 Give what you can.
🌳 Share this post.
💬 Text 3 people who care about reproductive justice.

March 6 is coming fast.

Let’s meet it together. 🌱

02/25/2026

We are bringing paid, community-trained doulas into Santa Rita Jail, where we’ve been offering perinatal support, for a full spectrum doula training. 🎉

🌼 Not as charity.
🌼 Not as saviors.
🌼 Not as unpaid labor.

As infrastructure.

We need to raise $25,000 in 10 days to fund facilitator pay, participant support, materials, and to build this as a recurring offering where our community members can heed the calling to become doulas.

Abolition isn’t abstract.
It looks like dignity.
It looks like autonomy.
It looks like funding care instead of punishment.

If you believe care belongs everywhere, especially inside carceral spaces,this is your moment.

👏🏽 Give what you can.
🌳 Share this post.
💬 Text 3 people who care about reproductive justice.

March 6 is coming fast.

Let’s meet it together. 🌱

01/29/2026

Join the California Doula Labor Table’s Community Listening Session TOMORROW (January 30th, 2026) and share your thoughts on doulas, adversity and organizing! Please invite your networks as well!

The California Doula Labor Table (24 doulas from across the state) convened all of last year to discuss and strategize on how we want to move the work forward as we see rapid growth in our profession thanks in great part to the 2023 Medi-Cal doula benefit.

This is our second and concluding community listening session, which will accompany our final white papers on 1) how doulas mitigate and support ourselves and our clients to cope with childhood adversity and toxic stress; and 2) how doulas could organize as a growing workforce to best empower ourselves and support our clients.

We’ll have two panels discussing these two important topics, present our white papers for your review and engage in a community discussion. We want to hear from you!

California Doula Labor Table
Community Listening Session
Date: January 30, 2026
Time: 10am PST - 1pm PST

Registration link: bit.ly/DoulaListen2

Hope to see you there!

Address

Oakland, CA

Telephone

805-910-RLBC

Website

http://www.rootsoflaborbc.com/

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