WAWC Healthcare Names Chauntel Norris Co-Executive Director

TUSCALOOSA, AL — WAWC Healthcare has named maternal equity advocate Chauntel Norris as its new co-executive director of programs and community as the Tuscaloosa-based nonprofit shifts to a co-executive director leadership model.

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WAWC Healthcare says Norris will serve alongside current Executive Director Robin Marty, with the organization saying the restructuring is intended to strengthen its work addressing maternal and sexual health disparities in West Alabama and across the state.

WAWC Healthcare, formerly known as the West Alabama Women's Center, operates a free and sliding-scale reproductive, maternal and sexual health center headquartered in Tuscaloosa.

The organization said it has served more than 5,000 patients since opening as a nonprofit clinic in 2022, with patients paying an average out-of-pocket cost of less than $20 per visit.

Norris previously served on WAWC Healthcare's board and is director of the Alabama Prison Birth Project, a nonprofit focused on improving conditions and support for incarcerated mothers.

“WAWC is lucky to know Chauntel through her years serving on our board and, more recently, through her incredible work supporting incarcerated mothers through her nonprofit the Alabama Prison Birth Project,” Marty said. “I can think of few people in this state with as much passion and expertise, and it’s an honor to have her bring that to our team.”

In her new position, Norris will lead WAWC's policy and community outreach teams, oversee state and local events and coordinate the organization's growing group of Black women-led allied and fiscally sponsored organizations.

WAWC said Marty will serve as executive director of operations and health care strategy, focusing on clinical programs, patient growth, health care access and expansion, along with workforce training opportunities for West Alabama residents.

Norris is also co-founder of Baobab Birth Collective and serves on the board of the Alabama Breastfeeding Committee. She is a Kindred Partner of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, a Community Transformer for Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere and was named a 2021 Aspen Healthy Communities Fellow.

She holds bachelor's degrees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a certified lactation counselor, DONA-trained doula and Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator.

“I am very excited to step into this new role at WAWC,” Norris said. “As a former board member, I have watched the clinic grow and increase its services over the years. We are providing a vital service to communities that otherwise might lack access, and we are creating the blueprint for true patient-centered care.”

WAWC Board President Jennifer Harris said Norris' connections and experience will help the organization expand its community organizing, policy and programming.

“While we will miss Chauntel on the Board, her deep connections are exactly what WAWC requires to expand their community organizing, policy and programs to the next level in the same way the clinic has expanded health access for western Alabama,” Harris said.

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