Rhia Ventures Invites Applications for New Community Advisory Council
Rhia Ventures is forming an advisory body to ensure our accountability to the communities and movements we aim to serve.
Background
Rhia Ventures’ mission is to advance reproductive and maternal health equity by intentionally leveraging capital to center the needs, experiences, and perspectives of historically marginalized people in decision-making. Founded in 2018, Rhia Ventures is a social impact organization that believes the private sector is an underutilized lever to advance equitable reproductive and maternal health outcomes for women and other birthing people in the US. The US has a multibillion-dollar reproductive and maternal health market with tremendous potential for public health impact, but it has been built on flawed systems that perpetuate unjust outcomes for women, birthing people of color, and others directly affected by systemic inequities. Our work is to transform this market. Investing in reproductive health is good for women and birthing people, good for the world, and good for business. We seek to create this transformation through shareholder advocacy and corporate engagement, ecosystem-building, and investment vehicles, including funds that can make equity investments in early-stage companies that address critical, unmet needs in women’s health.
Objectives
In alignment with Rhia Ventures’ strategic goal of incorporating the perspectives of individuals and communities with direct experience of health inequities, the organization is launching an advisory council. The purpose of this council is to ensure that Rhia Ventures’ strategies and approaches are complementary to reproductive justice, maternal and child health, and women’s health organizational and movement goals. The development of the Council is intended to be a co-design process in partnership with Council members, but we envision potential Council responsibilities to include:
- Raising trends/innovations that are unable to grow due to gaps in capital access
- Ensuring Rhia Ventures’ accountability to reproductive justice principles
- Providing insight from the field to shape Rhia Ventures’ practice and advocacy
- Identifying areas for strategic support, collaboration, and amplification
Advisory Council Role
We are seeking leaders from within the fields of reproductive health, maternal and child health, and women’s health who 1) represent historically marginalized communities; 2) embody a fully intersectional approach to racial equity within their work; 3) experience with collaborative design processes; 4) are interested in engaging with economic levers of change. We invite perspectives across professions and roles: doulas/midwives, small business owners, community organizers, clinicians, researchers, and more.
Commitment
Council members will be asked to participate in one orientation meeting and 4 quarterly, 90-minute meetings (one year term), as well as to review materials prior to the meetings. Compensation will be provided.
How to Apply
Please complete this application form by January 10, 2025.
Questions?
Contact us at ecosystembuilding@rhiaventures.org or use our contact form.
