R.I. receives $7.2M to support families in home visiting program

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island received approximately $7.2 million in funding from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to support families involved in the home visiting program.
Funds allow grantees to continue to expand voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services to women during pregnancy, and to parents with young children up to kindergarten entry, through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.
Nationally, $345 million in funding was awarded to 55 states, territories and nonprofit organizations.
“Evidence-based federal home visiting programs help children get off to a better, healthier start,” HRSA Acting Administrator Jim Macrae said in a statement. “Today’s awards allow Rhode Island and states around the nation to support local agencies in providing home visiting services that meet the needs of families in their own communities.”
The home visiting program aims to help mothers find prenatal care, improve their diets, and reduce use of tobacco, alcohol and illegal substances.
The program serves nearly 40 percent of U.S. counties with high rates of low birth weight infants, teen births, families living in poverty or infant mortality. Nearly 80 percent of families participating in the program had household incomes at or below 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, according to the federal agency.

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