California’s Medicaid doula benefit, launched in January, is now being actively utilized to connect Black families with doulas, according to Khefri Riley, co-founder and director of Frontline Doulas.
Riley, who also serves as Director of Impact and Development of the Los Angeles County Medi-Cal Doula Hub, highlighted the importance of families taking advantage of the new benefit. Frontline Doulas, founded in 2019 by Riley and Dr. Sayida Peprah-Wilson, provides non-medical perinatal support services to Black and African American families. The organization has already directly impacted over 800 families and 136 doulas through its various programs in California and across the United States.
The Frontline Doulas – Centering the Community program was established to address perinatal disparities within the African American community in Los Angeles County. The program offers physical, emotional, informational, psychosocial, and advocacy support during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Frontline Doulas also operates a Black Doula Match program, a Doula Hotline, and the Black Doula Awards.
Riley’s involvement extends to shaping the implementation of the Medicaid benefit. She served as a member of the Co-Design Advisory Team for the California DHCS Medi-Cal Doula Benefit Stakeholder Workgroup and currently sits on DHCS’s Doula Core Workgroup, California’s Doula Learning and Action Collaborative, and California’s Doula Labor Table Project. Her work is rooted in a family tradition of maternal care, drawing inspiration from her paternal great-grandmother, an African-Indigenous grandmother midwife from the Deep South.
Frontline Doulas’ services include over 600 one-on-one telehealth calls through the Doula Hotline, providing crucial support to families. Riley herself has attended more than 300 births at major hospitals throughout Los Angeles County and has trained thousands of expectant families in intuitive physiological birth and postpartum practices. The organization offers a range of engagement opportunities, including consultations, workforce development initiatives, policy advocacy, research partnerships, and professional doula mentorship programs.
On February 11, 2026, Riley is scheduled to present on “The Birth of a Benefit: How Doulas Partnered With California’s Medicaid Doula Benefit” at a Developing Brain Institute event.
