State lands $3.9M grant for home visiting program

HONOLULU — One way to ensure keiki have a good start in life is to ensure families have access to a wide range of resources and supports while raising their children.

Having trained home visitors support new parents and families has been proven to improve the health of mothers and their children, encourage positive parenting, and promote child development and school readiness.

The Hawaii Department of Health received a $3.9 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant over a two-year period to continue its proactive, voluntary, preventive home visiting program.

The grant period began Oct. 1 and continues through Sept. 29, 2020. HRSA awarded a total of about $361 million to 56 states, territories, and nonprofit organizations for its Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.

“Hawaii’s home visiting program offers pregnant women and families additional tools to help children be physically, socially, and emotionally healthy and ready to learn,” said Matthew Shim, chief of the Department of Health’s Family Health Services Division. “We continue to tailor our home visiting program to meet the needs of families throughout the state.”

With the new grant, the Department of Health projects that over a two-year period, it will reach more than 1,700 participants through the home visiting program, including 870 parents/guardians and 830 children in 870 households