Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Homevisiting Grant Program - Address: 55 North Willow Street Trenton, NJ 08608-1203 Project Director Name: Sarah Bilyj MBA, BSN, RN Contact Phone Number: 609-913-5473 Email Address: sarah.bilyj@doh,nj.gov Website Address: Department of Health | Family Health Services (nj.gov) List all grant program funds requested in the application: MIECHV X10 a. Purpose: New Jersey (NJ) is ranked 36th in the nation for maternal deaths and has one of the widest racial disparities for maternal and infant mortality. A Black mother in New Jersey is seven times more likely than a White mother from maternity-related complications. A Black baby is over three times more likely than a White baby to die before their first birthday (NJDOH, Nurture NJ). NJDOH is committed to using innovative research, data, and statewide outreach collaboratives to end preventable morbidity, mortality, and racial disparities in NJ maternity care and to improve health outcomes for mothers and families. NJ will continue to offer Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) to at-risk families in NJ. MIECHV provides voluntary, free evidenced-based home visits which offers education and support to expectant or new parents and families. Programs also link families to resources and services that provide prenatal care and social services. b. Goals and Objectives: The FY2023 MIECHV project goals include: 1) Continue to build state/local infrastructures for a coordinated system of MCH and early childhood care through an equity lens, and 2) Increase capacity and positive impacts of HV services. These goals will be achieved through the following objectives: 1.1) Continue planning with state, regional and local partners for MCH infrastructure development; 1.2) Increase the referral completion rate using the standardized assessment tools; 1.3) Share home visiting data and CNJ information through standardized reports, quarterly meetings and CQI activities to promote MIECHV family engagement and referrals; 1.4) Continue to participate in the Coordinated Statewide Evaluation (CSE) of NJ’s home-visiting workforce using a health equity lens that focuses on staff well-being and retention and create a plan to identify disparities in available data; 2.1) Participate in quarterly CQI meetings with statewide partners and representatives of HV programs focusing on increasing capacity, retention, family engagement, and community referrals; 2.2) Develop the FY23 Continuing Quality Improvement Plan & incorporate Subrecipient Monitoring of the LIAs CQI implementation; 2.3) Report standardized performance and benchmark measures that promote referrals, eliminate duplication and maximize enrollment; 2.4) Increase the Level of Service for MIECHV families by 20% by 9/29/25; 2.5) Maintain a statewide average of 60% for 1-year retention for MIECHV programs. c. Methodology: i. NJ MIECHV will maintain Healthy Families America, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Parents as Teachers to achieve the above goals and objectives. ii. In FY2023, NJ MIECHV will target 13 of NJ's at-risk counties included in the 2020 Needs Assessment. iii. Effective 07/01/23, NJ will transition from serving 4,704 families with mixed funding sources to 1,530 fully funded MIECHV slots for each federal fiscal year within the FY2023 Base Grant. iv. This application's current caseload of MIECHV family slots will be 1,530 as of July 1, 2023. v. NJ MIECHV provides support to eligible families by implementing Connecting New Jersey (CNJ) hubs in all 21 counties to ensure appropriate linkages and referrals to other community resources and services, including comprehensive statewide Early Childhood Systems (ECS). ECS integrates families to champion and improve the health and well-being of the prenatal to three population.