Kelly Rowland & Tina Knowles Lead birthFUND Team At Houston Walk
Originally published by AllHipHop Read the original
Kelly Rowland and Tina Knowles are heading back to Houston to lead birthFUND’s team at the first Third Ward Mile, putting their hometown ties behind a maternal-care fundraiser.
The two will serve as team captains alongside birthFUND founder Elaine Welteroth at the November 28 event, People reported. Both already support the nonprofit as family funders. The new role brings them to a community walk in the neighborhood where Knowles ran Headliners, the hair salon tied to Destiny’s Child’s beginnings.
“Every mother deserves to feel safe, supported and seen when she brings life into the world,” Rowland told People. Knowles added, “Third Ward helped me raise my girls.”
birthFUND’s program helps families pay for birth care. Its need-based grants cover perinatal care and midwifery support. Birth Center Equity vets participating providers, while the Victoria Project and care providers help review families’ applications. Corporate partnerships also extend to diapers, lactation support and education for growing families.
Welteroth’s own search for care led her to a Black-owned birthing center in Los Angeles. In December 2023, she started a fundraiser to cover care for one family. It brought in enough for two.
The organization formally launched in April 2024, drawing support from individual donors, companies and a network of family funders. That network includes musician John Legend and Chrissy Teigen.
The race organizer lists birthFUND as its official philanthropic partner, with a dedicated fundraising page for supporters of the team.
Their return follows another Houston project. Earlier this month, Rowland and Knowles joined Beyoncé at the opening of the 31-unit Knowles-Rowland House, a permanent supportive housing development. Residents are scheduled to start moving in November 1.
For the walk, participants will travel along Emancipation Avenue, starting near Arbor Street and finishing at Rosalie Street by Emancipation Park. The organizer welcomes children under six with a registered adult, and allows strollers and wheelchairs in the community walk.
The park will host a finishers village with food, music, local businesses and a birthFUND family zone. Registration is open, with the organizer listing a $35 fee. The organizer’s schedule, which is subject to change, places the first race heats at 8 a.m. and the birthFUND community walk at 9:30 a.m. local time on November 28.
