Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Homevisiting Grant Program - Abstract Project Title: Alabama’s Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program Purpose: This project supports national efforts to ensure high-quality, comprehensive early childhood support statewide for families with children from birth to kindergarten entry. Alabama’s First Teacher Home Visiting Program will implement the Parents as Teachers and Nurse-Family Partnership models through 14 Local Implementing Agencies (LIAs). Matching federal funds will be used to strengthen service delivery. Goals and Objectives: Goal 1: Increase enrollment in MIECHV programs to expand effective home visiting. Objective 1.1: Maintain service provision in counties served as of FY 2024. Goal 2: Improve maternal and newborn health. Objective 2.1: Maintain or improve FY2022 outcomes in MIECHV Benchmark 1 (HRSA-defined). Goal 3: Prevent child injuries, abuse, neglect, and reduce emergency visits. Objective 3.1: Maintain or improve FY2022 outcomes in Benchmark 2. Goal 4: Enhance school readiness and achievement. Objective 4.1: Maintain or improve FY2022 outcomes in Benchmark 3. Goal 5: Reduce intimate partner violence. Objective 5.1: Maintain or improve FY2022 outcomes in Benchmark 4. Goal 6: Support family economic self-sufficiency. Objective 6.1: Maintain or improve FY2022 outcomes in Benchmark 5. Goal 7: Improve coordination and referrals to community resources. Objective 7.1: Maintain or improve FY2022 outcomes in Benchmark 6. Goal 8: Support comprehensive evaluation of project outcomes. Objective 8.1: Monitor site performance using Alabama's common benchmarks; provide technical assistance. Objective 8.2: Develop methods to link First Teacher data with other early childhood programs to evaluate school readiness. Objective 8.3: Integrate home visiting data with K-12 data to assess educational performance. Goal 9: Promote best practices and improved service delivery. Objective 9.1: LIAs will engage in continuous quality improvement (CQI) projects. Approach: The program will serve a proposed caseload of 1,395 families annually, across 39 of Alabama’s 67 counties, including Jefferson, Montgomery, Mobile, and several rural counties. Services are delivered by 14 LIAs receiving funds during the performance period. Alabama’s FTHV program does not plan to expand geographic coverage at this time. Instead, it will use federal matching funds to increase per-family support for the Parents as Teachers model from $4,200 to $5,000. This increase will allow for stronger service delivery, enhanced staff support, professional development, and improved outcomes for families. The additional resources will help ensure program sustainability and foster long-term impact in key early childhood indicators.
