This article is excerpted from the authors' "The Community-Based Doula: Supporting Families Before, During, and After Childbirth", published in 2006 by "ZERO TO THREE." In the U.S., many new parents are socially isolated and lack access to ongoing caring and support because of poverty, immigration, language barriers, or the growing mobility and fragmentation of families. This article focuses on community-based doulas, women who provide support during the childbearing year to other women within their community. The authors outline the history of the doula role, summarize the literature on the effects of labor support, and describes Chicago Health Connection's community-based doula model, a new approach to supporting families from underserved communities. The article is supplemented with a series of "In a Doula's Own Words" sidebars in which doulas describe their experiences.