$5M Grant Targets Maternal, Infant Support

The local chapter of a federally funded program that fights to keep moms and infants in good health has secured a five-year, $5 million award to subsidize doula care, increase outreach to at-risk communities, and sustain education programs for new and expecting parents.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro announced that federal funding boost during a Monday morning press conference at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven at 70 Audubon St.

Alongside Community Foundation President and CEO William Ginsberg, Blumenthal and DeLauro said those funds are being sent to the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, which hosts New Haven’s Healthy Start program. 

This aid comes from the Department of Health and Human Services and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Founded in 1998, New Haven Healthy Start last received funding on a similar five-year cycle from HRSA in 2019. Since its inception, New Haven Healthy Start has received $28.3 million of funding.

“We know investments work,” Blumenthal said. ​“We have the facts and the evidence. At the same time infant mortality is dropping, maternal deaths are still climbing.”

DeLauro emphasized the fight in Congress to secure the funding for Healthy Start. According to DeLauro, ​“pro-life Republicans” had tried to cut the funding from Healthy Start from its 2024 – 2025 budget, mistaking the program with another early maternal healthcare service, Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.

“Our problem is lack of revenue. We have 55 of the major corporations in this country [that] will pay zero in taxes,” DeLauro said. ​“By God, we are going to ensure that [Healthy Start] is funded.”

According to Healthy Start’s website, New Haven’s infant mortality rate was 20 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1987. The current infant mortality rate is 10.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, and 14.4 per 1,000 live births for African American and Latina moms. Despite falling infant mortality rates, officials stated at Monday’s press conference that the city’s maternal mortality rate is on the rise. In Connecticut, pregnancy-associated deaths have increased from 6 in 2015 to 18 in 2020, as recorded by the Department of Public Health. 

“The death of a newborn child is an unthinkable tragedy,” DeLauro said. ​“The cumulative sense of loss that our community experienced is hard to imagine.”

New Haven Healthy Start is one of two Healthy Start chapters in the nation that is run out of a community foundation. Natasha Ray, director of New Haven Healthy Start and member of the national Healthy Start Association, emphasized that this aspect of New Haven Healthy Start allows for the program’s services to stay close and accessible to the community.

“In our experience, being at a community foundation allows for more innovation that’s in alignment with the actual grant,” Ray said. ​“There is not a lot of red tape, hoops, bureaucracy.”

New Haven Healthy Start has used the funding to expand its services over the years. In its last grant cycle, Healthy Start emphasized academic collaboration, publishing six academic articles and continuing its partnership with Yale Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, which has partnered on research projects to address maternal health issues in New Haven. Additionally, alongside continuing to provide services to new and expectant mothers, Healthy Start has expanded its services to include consortium classes and education programs for new fathers. 

On Monday, one father, Robert Farrow, talked about the impact Healthy Start’s services have had on his life. 

“Not many people from where I’m from have the healthiest start,” Farrow said. ​“They have an okay start, They have a mediocre start. Unfortunately, that start doesn’t lead them to where they need as fathers.”

Farrow cited a Healthy Start program called 24/7 Dad, run by Rodney Moore, as a pivotal resource that helped him become a better father. 

In the eight-week-long program, Farrow learned not only how to become a better father to his children, but also how to apply for a credit card and home loans. Farrow, a 28-year-old father of three children, heard about Healthy Start after the doctor taking care of his wife referred him to it. Moore, New Haven Healthy Start Fatherhood Coordinator, tried to get him to join the program, but Farrow refused. It wasn’t until his mother demanded him to go that he decided to join.

“My mother looked at me and said ​‘you’d better do it,’” Farrow said. ​“I got to listen to my mom.” While Farrow spoke, his four-year-old daughter Harmony stood by his side. The two like to sing Gospel music together, and Farrow noted that Harmony is a fiercely protective older sister. But right now, as she tugged at his leg, he said what she really wanted to do was go play at the park.