Santa Cruz Health & Wellness Leader of The Year: Campesina Womb Justice

Campesina Womb Justice Mutual Aid Project, founded by Maria Ramos Bracamontes was awarded the 2023 NEXTies Health & Wellness Leader of the Year.

A passionate advocate for undocumented indigenous farmworker women, Maria used her entire stimulus checkin 2020 to start the Campesina Womb Care Project. The Mututal Aid project provides many resources, but began by offering care packages filled with essential supplies such as pads, tampons, masks, and herbal teas for general non-pregnant womb care.

Inspired by her lineage of midwives and homebirths, Maria is dedicated to amplifying the voices of marginalized women and providing them with ancestral womb medicine and mutual aid. She firmly believes in healing, justice, and reparations for all, especially those who have been systematically excluded and oppressed.

With the launch of Campesina Womb Justice, Maria aims to build a fair and equitable society for all women, regardless of their background or circumstance. She is committed to empowering these women through education, support, and access to resources that they need to thrive and succeed.

Maria’s dedication and unwavering commitment to the wellness of her neighbors has already had a profound impact on the lives of many women living and working in Santa Cruz County.

Get to know Maria below and be sure to join the NEXTies award show happening at Woodhouse Brewing on March 31. Get your tickets here.

Describe what you do in two sentences:

María: I aspire to bring healing, justice, and reparations to undocumented indigenous farmworker women by elevating their voices, bringing mutual aid and ancestral womb medicine.

What inspired you to pursue your current path, and how did you get started?

María: I come from an uninterrupted lineage of midwives and homebirth in rural Mexico and when I moved here I met a local homebirth midwife who invited me to learn with her. Although I do not practice homebirth at the moment, I am honored to attend the births of farmworkers.

What do you consider to be your biggest achievement so far in your career, and why?

María: I am proud to be able to serve as a local midwife and a substance use nurse provider. I am most proud to be starting a Volunteer Doula Program at my place of work, Watsonville Community Hospital that is culturally appropriate.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023?

María: I am excited to finally have time to travel and spread my wings starting a second job at Highland Hospital in Oakland, and teaching traditional indigenous birth practices in other places such as South Dakota and Hawaii.

What are your future career goals and aspirations?

María: With Campesina Womb Justice I am fundraising for a campesina womb bus to offer prenatal care, women’s health, substance use care, and traditional mexican medicine to campesinas in their neighborhoods and fields.

In addition, I am planning a Mixteco Doula Program that is bilingual Mixteco/Spanish so that Mixteco Indigenous farmworkers can receive care from their own Mixteco community members and it can be a means of employment and they can leave the toxic fields. My final dream is to have an Indigenous Birth Center and or indigenous land to create an Indigenous living community to protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence.

What role do you believe mentorship and networking have played in your success?

María: This past year my circle grew, I was invited to join Rise Together, a group of BIPOC community leaders and this is really helping me connect to the community organizing part of my soul. Being seen and heard by my own community and becoming more noticeable is helping my mutual aid project grow, becoming stronger and more fruitful.

How do you stay connected with your community?

María: Serving as a community midwife, holding monthly medicine making gatherings/women’s circles/ donations drives for campesinas and training new BIPOC community birthworkers.

What does being a NEXTie honoree mean to you?

María: It means that my work is being witnessed and is making an impact to the heart of the community, also it means that we are spreading the word about reproductive and farmworker injustices in south county with our undocumented indigenous farmworker relatives.

Who will be joining you at this year’s NEXTies award show on March 31?

María: My 16 yr old, 5 y.o., 2 yr old, and friends.

Anything else you would like to share?

María: Thank you for this opportunity to share my work in hopes we can fundraise for our dreams for justice, healing, and reparations for local campesina, we need a bus, clinic, and land.