The Center for Child and Family Health (CCFH) has secured a transformative grant for its Family Connects Durham program, one of 80+ organizations awarded funding through Action for Women’s Health, a $250 million global initiative aimed at improving women’s mental and physical health around the world.
CCFH prevents and treats childhood trauma, helping families heal and thrive by offering outpatient clinical care and intensive in-home prevention supports. Founded in 1996, CCFH extends this impact by training thousands of child-serving professionals in our evidence-based practices yearly. Family Connects is one of CCFH’s prevention programs, which offers free nurse home visits to Durham County families with newborns regardless of income level or risk factors. The universal program has served more than 18,000 women since its inception in 2008, identifying concerns and connecting families with needed community resources during a vital period for families about three weeks after birth.
Action for Women’s Health is funded by Pivotal, a group of impact organizations founded by Melinda French Gates, and managed by Lever for Change, an organization with a track record of identifying bold ideas to solve the world’s most pressing problems. Over 4,000 organizations from 119 countries applied, offering solutions across the lifespan for women. After a rigorous peer and expert review process, 80+ organizations have been identified, many of whom have historically lacked access to major funding streams. The grants range from $1 million to $5 million. CCFH is the only nonprofit organization in North Carolina to receive this grant, and one of only 33 in the United States. (One other state awardee is NC Agricultural and Technical State University, an HBCU based in Greensboro, for its lactation support program).
Globally, this funding will have real impact for women across geographies, life stages, and identities. Although women make up half of the world’s population, they face inequities in nearly every aspect of their health. Women’s health is chronically underfunded and under-researched, and even when resources and solutions do exist, they often aren’t reaching the women who need them.
Locally, the Durham community struggles with discouraging trends regarding maternal vulnerability to poor health and mental health, especially among women of color. Family Connects partners with local coalitions to address perinatal inequities, with an integrated approach that can benefit more families and meet their most pressing needs.
To better address the high prevalence of postpartum mental health concerns, especially depression, the program has integrated Mothers & Babies (M&B) into its approach. M&B is a short-term, evidence-based group intervention that supports healthy mood management and stress responses in new mothers. M&B provides an opportunity for proactive intervention with women at risk for or showing early signs of postpartum depression who often struggle to access treatment.
With support from this grant and other valued donors, CCFH’s goal is to improve perinatal health and mental health by expanding services to thousands of additional families in the coming years. This means that all women giving birth in our region can benefit from Family Connects, while bridging a gap in maternal mental health services by offering M&B for new mothers at greatest risk for postpartum depression.
A strong research base supports Family Connects’ effectiveness. Benefits include less maternal depression and anxiety, more community services connections, more positive parenting, better home environments for children, and more consistent healthcare. Served families required less emergency medical care, saving $3.17 for each $1 in program expenditures. Fewer families were reported for child maltreatment, and children showed stronger early language skills.
The Action for Women’s Health reviewers noted this about the program’s approach and success:
“The Center for Child and Family Health is doing transformative work and is a trusted, respected ecosystem leader that is well positioned to expand this successful model. The visiting nurse model is a well-established and transformative model for improving outcomes for women, children and families.”
“While neither flashy nor focusing on the use of new technologies for its implementation, this is an initiative with programs that work and have made a significant difference to the populations served. Further support of this program in Durham, with an eye towards supporting the creation and expansion of this program across North Carolina’s communities, US states and internationally in collaboration with local efforts would be worthwhile.”
More information about the global initiative and other awardees available here.
