Our Story
Educate. Empower. Enhance.
It is incredible how one small idea can grow into something truly special. Water Signs Community Perinatal Services began as a class project. Our Founding Executive Director, Hannah Jayne Harris, was teaching a service-learning section of a college class focused on diversity. The students in the class chose to focus their study on the hidden costs of womanhood. Through their exploration, they focused on the added costs of being a pregnant employee and bearing the costs of switching out a wardrobe for just a few months of your life to keep up with societal and employer expectations for appearance. Through this, our maternity clothing closet was envisioned and was established in 2021.
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Since then, Dr. Harris' students have continued to grow the closet project each semester. Through encouragement from her students and her peers, she started to dream bigger about expanding access to doula care and parent support for the growing BIPOC community in the Ozarks.
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Water Signs was granted 501c3 tax-exempt status in October 2023 and is growing and expanding with passion and intentionality.
Meet Our Team
Hannah Jayne Harris, PsyD
Founding Executive Director
Hannah founded Water Signs following the encouragement of so many in her community. After describing her own birthing and parenting experiences, she wanted to increase access to resources she did not have available to her during those times. She is the heartbeat of the organization.
