by Delaney Sanchez
March 7th 2025
Share
Photo of Dr. Roberta Hunte.
Pregnancy and having a child is one of the most vulnerable times in a birthing person's life. Roberta Suzette Hunte, Ph.D., Associate Professor in PSU's School of Social Work, learned this first hand. Her research is dedicated towards understanding the maternal health disparities impacting people of color and community driven approaches to support healthy outcomes. The Black Futures for Perinatal Health Collective, emerged from a participatory study she led in 2023. The collective joined with the Children’s Institute and lawmakers to craft a bill to improve outcomes for moms and babies.
The Momnibus 2025 Bill Package has four key directives to support families during pregnancy and a child’s first year of life and was introduced by Senator Lisa Reynolds this month:
- Safe and stable housing through rental assistance, affordable housing
- Maternal behavioral health support with addiction treatment, behavioral health care
- Poverty reduction strategies, like child tax credits and financial aid programs
- Expand perinatal workforce, diversifying and adding roles like doulas and lactation consultants in state statutes, increasing Medicaid and private insurance coverage for these services.
Student research and internships have supported this work from MSW and MBA students, and the Center for Women's Leadership. She is also working on a theatre piece related to perinatal health disparities titled "Push: Black Mamas Changing the Culture of Birth," to be performed in April with Passin Art and Coho Theater.