Interested in Expanding Contraceptive Access in Your Community?

At Power to Decide, we work to advance sexual and reproductive well-being for all. Expanding access to contraception is a critical part of that work. At a time when barriers such as availability, price, and information prevent people from accessing the contraception they need, ensuring they have the tools and resources to access care is more important than ever.

Over the past three years, through our Contraceptive Equity Initiative (CEI), we’ve partnered with organizations across the country to expand contraceptive access. These efforts, known as contraceptive access initiatives (CAIs), bring together health care, public health, and community organizations to improve access in ways that reflect local needs. 

CAIs have existed throughout the United States since 2007 as a response to persistent gaps in access to contraceptive care, due in part to insufficient and/or inconsistent federal funding and limitations placed on existing programs like Medicaid and Title X. Many people, especially those in states with limited reproductive health infrastructure, continued to face barriers to care, highlighting the need for more community-responsive approaches. 

As the sexual and reproductive health field has evolved toward an emphasis on reproductive well-being, autonomy, and equity, CAIs remain a vital part of this landscape, helping to ensure that all people can access the full range of contraceptive options in ways that align with their values and life circumstances.

Though each CAI is unique, they strive toward the same goal of expanding equitable access to low- or no-cost contraception, and are grounded in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements.

As part of this work, Power to Decide convened a Shared Learning Collaborative (SLC) made up of leaders from CAIs nationwide. An SLC is a structured network of individuals or teams working toward a common goal, where participants don’t just learn together—they test ideas in real time, refine their approaches, and share what they learn to drive change in their own communities and the broader field. 

Our CEI SLC included representatives from: 

• All Access EKY 
• Family Planning Elevated/ASCENT Center for Reproductive Health
• Illinois Contraceptive Access Now!
• New Morning
• New York Birth Control Access Project (NYBCAP)
• PATH4YOU
• Reproductive Health Collaborative Nebraska
• The Right Time  
• Take Control Initiative (TCI)
• Trust Her  

We Want to Hear from You

To increase access, we need to ensure we're supporting organizers doing this work. If you are currently working or are interested in improving contraceptive access in your community, we want to hear from you! 

Please complete our short survey to share your interest and help inform what comes next in CAIs, and further tailor our efforts to the needs of organizers and individuals doing the work. 

Your input will help shape future opportunities and ensure that the next phase of this work reflects the needs and desires of the field. We rely on community organizers and individuals to not only promote this work, but also lead it. And, this survey is the first step.

Coming Soon: A Toolkit to Support New CAIs

Through the SLC, partners shared strategies, identified challenges, and learned from one another in real time. They also helped to develop a new digital toolkit to support individuals and organizations interested in building CAIs in their own communities.

Informed directly by the experiences of these CAIs, the upcoming toolkit offers:

• Practical guidance for planning, launching, and sustaining a CAI
• Tools and templates used by existing initiatives
• Strategies for building partnerships and engaging communities
• Insights on funding, evaluation, and more

The toolkit will be available on our website soon and is designed to support individuals and organizations at various stages of this work.

Exploring What’s Next for Expanding Contraceptive Access

As the reproductive health landscape continues to shift, and key federal funding streams like Title X face uncertainty, strengthening access at the state and local level is more important than ever. To that end, we’re exploring what it could look like to support a new CAI SLC.

This SLC would include individuals or organizations interested in applying the toolkit to build contraceptive access initiatives in their regions. The SLC would offer opportunities for peer learning, mentorship, and training, and access to tools grounded in the experiences of existing CAIs.

Learn more about our work with existing contraceptive access initiatives.