Webinar - Midwifing Space

Advancing Architecture and Policy for Healing Spaces

Space is never neutral. The way we design birth, and healthcare spaces generally, reflects what we value – how we center families' voices and choices, how we harmonize safety and dignity, and how we honor culture and identity.

In this webinar, Nashira Baril and Katherine Rushfirth of Boston’s Neighborhood Birth Center (NBC), are joined by their architect, Amie Shao, of MASS Design Group, to share reflections from their partnership, including:

• A human-centered, trauma-informed, co-design process
• Principles for designing affirming, safe, and culturally reverent birth spaces
• Regulatory challenges and pathways to policy change

NBC’s approach demonstrates how spatial design, community engagement, policy advocacy, and grassroots organizing can create a sustainable, replicable, and scalable model for birth equity.

Guest Presenters: Nashira Baril, Executive Director and Founder of Neighborhood Birth Center, Katherine Rushfirth, CNM, FACNM, Associate Director of Neighborhood Birth Center, and Amie Shao, Principal and Senior Director of MASS Design Group

Originally presented live on December 3, 2025.