Preparing you for a career in birth:

•Certified Professional Midwife

•Birth Assistant

•Labor Support/Postpartum Doula

•Maternal Child Case Manager

Enhancing your career in:

•Public & Community Health

•Social Work

•Women’s/Gender Studies

Perinatal Educator Program: Labor Support Doula Class

TBD

Maternal Child Health Specialist Programs

Fall, 2026

Certified Professional Midwifery (CPM) Program

Fall, 2026: Required MCHS-Birth Assistant component

Fall, 2027: CPM Program

All programs are approved by the Wisconsin Higher Educational Approval Program

CPM Program is pre accreditated by Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC)

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Serving the well-being of our people and the communities to which we belong.

Certified Professional

Midwifery Program

MMCI offers an Associate Degree that prepares students to become Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs). MMCI’s curriculum is designed to promote midwifery leadership and independence so students can acquire the skills and confidence that will prepare them for a midwifery career.

The CPM Program is a three-year course of study and, beginning in fall of 2026, must be preceded by completing MMCI's 1-year Birth Assistant Program. Those who complete the Birth Assistant Program and are accepted into the CPM Program may enter the CPM Program with advanced standing. Both programs are taught by experienced educators who specialize in the class content. Each month, classes are taught at an in-person weekend intensive and in weekly online discussion sessions that provide an immersion experience into the fundamental theories, science, ethical considerations, and wisdom students need to practice professionally. Clinical opportunities are provided throughout the program. Graduates will be thoroughly prepared for the NARM (North American Registry of Midwives) exam, and we will assist graduates in organizing their portfolios. Depending on the legal status of CPMs in the state in which the student resides, students may qualify for licensure.

For more information about MMCI’s CPM Program, please follow the link below to the 2025 MMCI Catalog.

MEAC PRE ACCREDITATION MMCI was granted the status of pre accreditation on April 10, 2025. Pre accreditation is defined by the US Department of Education as ‘the status of public recognition that an accrediting agency grants to an institution/program for a limited period of time that signifies that the agency has determined that the institution/program is progressing towards accreditation and is likely to attain accreditation before the expiration of that limited period of time.’ MEAC pre accreditation status is normally limited to one year and does not signify that an applicant institution/program is accredited, nor is it a guarantee of eventual accreditation.

Maternal Child Health Specialist Programs

MMCI offers a One-Year Diploma in two maternal child health programs. The Maternal Child Health Specialist (MCHS) course of study prepares students to work as advanced labor support/postpartum doulas and as maternal child case managers. This program is also for those in public and community health who want to further their knowledge in maternal child health. The Maternal Child Health Specialist-Birth Assistant (MCHS-Birth Assistant) course of study prepares students to work as birth assistants, supporting midwives during births and postpartum care. Beginning in the fall of 2026, successful completion of the MCHS-Birth Assistant Program is required for application to MMCI's Certified Professional Midwifery Program.

The didactic component of both MCHS Programs takes place over a 1-year period with clinicals completed concurrently and over the course of the following year. Students meet in person for one weekend each month and participate in weekly online discussions.

Diploma Programs: Students will complete 30 credits in one of the MCHS Programs and a designated number of clinical hours.

Prior to being accepted into the MCHS Programs, students are required to satisfactorily complete MMCI's Orientation and Labor Support Doula Class, which is held over the course of a weekend.

For more information about MMCI’s MCHS Programs, please follow the link below to the 2025 MMCI Catalog.

MMCI Education Catalog: 2025

Perinatal Educator Certificate Program

This program begins with the Labor Support Doula/Postpartum module held over the course of a weekend plus associated clinicals. Students may then complete the Childbirth Educator and Peer Lactation Educator modules and associated clinicals.

About MMCI

The Midwest Maternal Child Institute was founded in 2007 by Mary Sommers, CPM, MPS. Initially, MMCI was affiliated with the National College of Midwifery, and In 2010 MMCI became an independent higher educational institution approved by the Educational Approval Program, under Wisconsin Stats. 38.50(10).

Mission
The Midwest Maternal Child Institute's (MMCI) mission is to train midwives and Maternal Child Health Specialists as leaders who are engaged in the larger context in which midwifery care and maternal child health care are provided, and who will act with the integrity and purpose necessary to provide quality care to their clients and their communities.

Administration

Mary Sommers, CPM, MPS, IBCLC

MMCI Founder and Director of Academic Affairs

Mary is the Academic Affairs Director of the Midwest Maternal Child Institute. She is a Certified Professional Midwife licensed in Wisconsin and Illinois, and holds a Master’s degree in Public Service from DePaul University. Mary has many years of experience and the wisdom that comes from witnessing more than 2,000 deliveries over the past 40 years.

Mary is the founder of the MMCI and Director of first free standing birth center in Illinois. Early in her career, she co-founded Chicago

Community Midwives, a not-for-profit homebirth service. Mary has since worked as a midwife, doula, and lactation consultant for various private practices in the Chicago area, and has co- directed several nurse-midwifery practices, including the first free standing birth center in Illinois. Mary was a World Health Organization fellow, studying maternal health and breastfeeding programs in Netherlands and England. She has worked with midwives from Malawi and Grand Valley State to create a midwifery guidebook and APP, and was an advisory board member of CASA professional midwifery program in San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mexico. Mary has worked for more than thirty years in community health as an administrator and director of maternal child health programs and has supervised more than 40 midwifery students and trained more than 100 doulas in her various administrative roles.

She is the author of More Than a Midwife: Stories of Grace, Glory, and Motherhood and The Doula Handbook. She is featured in the book, Bright Lights of the Second City: 50 Prominent Chicagoans on Living with Passion and Purpose by Betsy Storm.

Laura Ehmann, MA

MMCI Chief Executive Officer and Student Affairs Director

Laura holds a Master’s Degree in Business Communication and a Master's Degree in Transformative Inquiry. She has vast experience in both the public and private sectors, including positions as Development Director of a public radio station, Research Specialist and Proposal Writer for a market research firm, and a Speech Instructor at a community college. Her experience in the health care field includes working as a Clinic Liaison with a mobile medical team serving unhoused persons on the streets of Chicago, Mental Health Worker at a large urban psychiatric hospital, and Community Liaison with the Barbados Cancer Society as a Peace Corps volunteer.