Amani Echols is the senior manager of maternal & infant health at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she leads and supports a broad range of equitable maternal health policy efforts, advocacy activities, technical assistance, and research projects, with a special focus on addressing the maternal and infant health crises in Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) communities. A key aspect of her work on the Health Justice team is bridging cross-movement issues to holistically identify and advance proactive policy solutions that address the barriers faced by childbearing and parenting individuals.
Prior to her work at the National Partnership, Amani was the Policy and Government Affairs Manager at the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP). There, she worked on a wide array of maternal and child health (MCH) policy issues, including perinatal behavioral health and securing funding for critical MCH programs. Amani’s experience also includes roles within Michigan’s MCH ecosystem, such as a hospital-based doula program, the state maternal mortality review committee, and a regional perinatal quality collaborative. Additionally, Amani completed pregnancy loss and abortion doula training and volunteers as a case manager with the DC Abortion Fund.
A Michigan native, Amani earned both her BA in Community and Global Public Health and MPH in Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with loved ones, cooking/baking, traveling, and playing basketball. She co-founded Hoop As You Are, a basketball community for women, non-binary, and trans people in the D(M)V.
