ACF, HRSA accept applications for Tribal Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is accepting applications for fiscal year 2010 for the Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program.

“This is an important opportunity to build the capacity, and better coordinate and deliver improved services to support families with young children in tribal communities”

"The Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program will support a new generation of healthy, happy, and successful American Indian and Alaska Native children and families through comprehensive, high-quality, evidence-based home visiting programs," said Carmen R. Nazario, HHS assistant secretary for children and families.

The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Programs authorized by Section 511 of Title V, as added by the Affordable Care Act, authorizes the award grants to Indian Tribes, Tribal Organizations or Urban Indian Organizations. A total of $3 million in funding is available for award in fiscal year 2010. Funds will support 5-year cooperative agreements to conduct community needs assessments, plan for and implement high-quality, evidence-based home visiting programs in at-risk Tribal communities, and participate in research and evaluation activities to build the knowledge base on home visiting among Tribal populations. Home visiting services provided under this grant are meant to improve child and family outcomes focusing on areas such as prenatal, maternal, and infant health, child health and development, parenting skills, school readiness, and family socio-economic status, and reduce incidence of child abuse and neglect, injuries, crime, and domestic violence.

Grants will be awarded for a needs assessment, planning, and capacity-building phase in Year 1 and pending successful completion of that phase, submission of a plan that meets requirements and approval by ACF, in consultation with HRSA, additional funding for an implementation phase will be provided for Year 2 and beyond.

ACF and HRSA also envision that this program will help to support and strengthen cooperation and coordination among various programs such as American Indian/Alaska Native Head Start, Tribal child care, Indian Health Services, and Indian child welfare. "This is an important opportunity to build the capacity, and better coordinate and deliver improved services to support families with young children in tribal communities," said Joan Lombardi, deputy assistant secretary and inter-departmental liaison for early childhood development.

The Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program will emphasize and support successful implementation of high-quality, culturally-relevant home visiting programs that have demonstrated evidence of effectiveness in Tribal settings. Based on a careful review of available research evidence on home visiting interventions with Tribal populations, HRSA and ACF will develop and submit for public comment evidence-based criteria for identifying home visiting models that are likely to improve outcomes for families in Tribal communities.