Atlanta Falcons defensive end Za’Darius Smith is bringing another project home to Greenville. His foundation has partnered with the Christian Coalition of Alabama to expand prenatal care for expectant mothers in Greenville and across Butler County.
The Christian Coalition of Alabama, or CCA, announced the partnership with the Za’Darius Smith Foundation this week. The organizations said details about specific services, providers and locations will be announced in the coming weeks.
A Foundation Focused on Kids
Smith, a Greenville native, created the Za’Darius Smith Foundation to support the mental health and well-being of at-risk young people in his hometown, with special attention to children from single-parent households. The coalition said that focus on giving Butler County children a better start helped lay the groundwork for the new partnership.
In a news release, the coalition said the project grows naturally out of Smith’s work with young people.
“Za’Darius Smith’s work has always been about kids, and prenatal care is where helping a child begins,” the coalition said. “A baby carried to term with good care starts life with advantages no program can hand back later.”
The coalition also pointed to the practical barriers mothers face in a small town. In communities like Greenville, the statement said, the problem is rarely whether a mother wants care. More often, it is “distance, cost, and whether a mother can reach care early enough for it to matter.”
Brinson: “This Partnership Is That Conviction Put to Work”
CCA President and Chairman Randy Brinson said the initiative reflects the coalition’s anti-abortion values and advocacy.
“We have said for years that you cannot claim to defend life and then walk away from the mother carrying it,” Brinson said. “This partnership is that conviction put to work in one town. Za’Darius did not have to come back to Greenville. He did, and he brought something with him. We are glad to stand beside him.”
Brinson is a Montgomery gastroenterologist who has long been active in conservative Christian political organizing. He founded the voter-engagement group Redeem the Vote in 2003 and ran in the Republican primary for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat in the 2017 special election. The Christian Coalition of Alabama advocates for conservative Christian positions on public policy in the state.
Smith: “A Problem Bigger Than Us”
Smith said his small-town roots shaped his interest in the project.
“Growing up in rural Alabama, it gives you the opportunity to appreciate the small things, and being able to bring people together to tackle a problem bigger than us is all the motivation I need!” Smith said.
From Greenville High to the NFL
Smith’s path to the NFL was unusual. He played basketball at Greenville High School and did not start playing football until his senior year. He then played two seasons at East Mississippi Community College before transferring to the University of Kentucky, where he earned third-team All-SEC honors.
The Baltimore Ravens drafted Smith in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He later played for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles, and was selected to three Pro Bowls. He now plays defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons.
Smith has stayed closely tied to Greenville. In 2021, he donated shoes to students at Greenville Elementary and Greenville Middle schools. In September, he paid for about 45 members of Harrison Street Baptist Church in Greenville to travel by bus to the Falcons’ home opener, covering their game tickets, T-shirts and food.
Why Prenatal Care Access Matters in Rural Alabama
The partnership comes as rural Alabama faces serious gaps in maternity care. According to the March of Dimes, about one in three Alabama counties is considered a maternity care desert, meaning it has no hospital offering obstetric care, no birth center and no obstetric clinicians such as obstetricians or certified nurse-midwives.
Nationally, the March of Dimes’ 2026 report found that about one in three U.S. counties is a maternity care desert, affecting about 5.8 million women. It also found that at least 96 hospital labor and delivery units closed across 35 states between 2024 and early 2026. Women in those counties often have to travel much farther for prenatal visits, delivery and postpartum care.
Greenville has felt that pressure on rural health care directly. In November 2025, the board of the Regional Medical Center of Central Alabama in Greenville voted unanimously to convert the hospital to Rural Emergency Hospital status. The change ends inpatient services, and hospital leaders said about 90 jobs would be cut. Rural Emergency Hospitals provide emergency and outpatient care but do not admit patients for inpatient stays.
Public health authorities recommend that pregnant women begin prenatal care early, ideally in the first trimester, and keep regular appointments throughout pregnancy. Early and regular visits let health care providers monitor the health of the mother and baby, screen for conditions such as high blood pressure and gestational diabetes, and address problems before they become emergencies. When the nearest appointment is a long drive away, missed or delayed visits become more likely, especially for mothers without reliable transportation or flexible work schedules.
What We Know and What Comes Next
The organizations have not yet announced which services the program will offer, which health care providers will take part or where care will be available. They say those details are coming in the coming weeks.
Questions likely to be answered then include whether the program will help pay for care, provide transportation to appointments or bring services closer to Greenville, and how expectant mothers can sign up. Butler County residents can watch for announcements from the Christian Coalition of Alabama and the Za’Darius Smith Foundation.
Greenville, the Butler County seat known as the Camellia City, sits along Interstate 65 between Montgomery and Mobile. For Smith, the project is another way of investing in the community where he grew up.