Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
Supporting Maternal and Child Health Innovation in States - The United States continues to experience unacceptably high rates of adverse maternal and infant health outcomes, with widening disparities when comparing White to Black and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. Social and structural determinants of health (SDOH) such as inequitable access to high quality health care and other community services; economic instability; neighborhood and built environment; and social and community contexts (e.g., systemic racism, discrimination) contribute to poor maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes. The data confirms a clear need exists to introduce policy initiatives that improve MCH outcomes and reduce disparities. The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA MCHB) funds three Healthy Start (HS) programs with the intent to reduce infant mortality and morbidity and address disparities in maternal and child health outcomes. Healthy Start (HS), Healthy Start Enhanced (HSE), and Catalyst for Infant Health Equity (Catalyst) support this work. These programs will produce better results in communities that are equipped to address the SDOH impacting their communities and to promote policy and systems change. Healthy Start uses a community-driven approach to delivering direct and enabling services that facilitates access to health care and community services. Healthy Start funding recipients are required to convene a Community Consortium. HS continues to have an increased emphasis on addressing social determinants of health, such as access to adequate food, housing, and transportation, to improve disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes. Based on stakeholder feedback, the recent FY 2024 HS competition offered recipients increased flexibility to tailor interventions to the unique needs of their community and/or target population. The proposed project will introduce a partnership between the National Healthy Start Association (NHSA) and the National Parent Leadership Institute (NPLI) to expand policy change resources supporting local community change efforts and to build policy change capacity in six local Healthy Start communities by empowering families and decision-makers to advocate for improving maternal and child health outcomes. Project partners will provide technical assistance and capacity building to help develop and implement policy initiatives in response to needs identified by the HS Project and its HS Consortium. Priority activities include: (1) training parents, family members, and community leaders to become effective leaders and advocates for their children and communities, (2) convening learning communities that engage stakeholders and people with lived experience, and (3) developing and disseminating informational resources. The proposed project will focus on the stakeholder group of other state and local officials. The HS Consortium will represent the primary vehicle for change. These Consortia are comprised of program, community residents, faith-based leaders, Title V contributors, medical and social service providers, and public health professionals. Healthy Start projects use the community voices to support projects such as: (1) Addressing gaps in service, (2) Creating services that consider different cultures and languages, (3) Increasing awareness of infant health issues, and (4) Focusing on factors that affect health like steady income. Beneficiaries will include women of childbearing age, fathers, and children, as well as family members and community resource partners that serve these populations. The proposed model holds great promise for scaling across the 110+ MCHB-funded Healthy Start sites and supports a Whole-of-Government Approach wherein diverse public administrations and agencies perform joint activities to provide a common solution to problems or issues. This bottom-up approach to policy and system change can drive and inform policy and system change at the state and federal levels.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).