PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leah Garrett, VP Development and Communications | Lgarrett@cohdc.org | 202.407.7780
A New Approach to Addressing the Needs of Pregnant People Experiencing Homelessness in Washington, DC
Community of Hope brings its expertise in maternal and child health and ending family homelessness to a new partnership with the DC Department of Human Services
WASHINGTON, October 17, 2023 – Community of Hope is announcing an innovative, new program called Housing Our Newborns, Empowering You (HONEY) in partnership with the DC Department of Human Services. The program will provide specialized supports and connection to resources for pregnant people experiencing homelessness in DC and for the housing and healthcare organizations serving them.
The new program opened with a soft launch on October 2, 2023 and will fully launch on October 30, 2023. Services include perinatal navigators located at Virginia Williams Family Resource Center to ensure pregnant people are connected to prenatal care; perinatal care coordinators to provide deeper supports up to 6 months after a baby is born; and an instructional component to educate other local service providers on the needs of pregnant people experiencing homelessness and how to connect them to health and housing supports. Services will be provided for people who are both pregnant and seeking housing stability assistance from DC’s Homelessness Services System at the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center on Rhode Island Ave in Northeast DC. The Virginia Williams Family Resource Center is the central intake location for the homelessness services system for any family experiencing homelessness in the District of Columbia.
The nearly $2.1 million program is funded with generous support from the Health Resources Services Administration’s Quality Improvement Fund-Maternal Health and from Optum, a part of UnitedHealth Group and the UnitedHealth Group Foundation. Together the funds will cover the two-year program launch, including 9.5 FTE staff positions and other client supports, with a goal of serving at least 300 families a year. The project also includes evaluation and research initiatives with technical support being provided by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The program is birthed out of two collaborative initiatives. First, with flexible support from the Bezos Day One Families Fund, Community of Hope recently integrated perinatal care coordination into our housing programs which serve in total over 1,300 families with children a year. A perinatal care coordinator helps the pregnant person to stay connected to their healthcare provider throughout their pregnancy and post-partum period, coordinates transportation and specialty care (as needed), provides health education, such as safe-sleep training, and access to basic supplies, such as diapers and wipes. Additionally, the perinatal care coordinator supports housing case managers with questions they have about serving pregnant and postpartum clients. The second collaboration was with the DC Office of Health Equity, DC Department of Human Services and Pew Charitable Trusts on their Calling All Sectors Initiative (CASI), a project that led to new policies to support for DC residents at the intersection of pregnancy and homelessness, including access to family shelter for pregnant people in their first and second trimesters.
“Community of Hope has long envisioned a world where every baby and every mom has a healthy start together, and there are no disparities in health outcomes for Black birthing people and babies. We are excited to use our core skills in both prenatal care and homelessness to develop an innovative, collaborative model which could be replicated in other areas,” Kelly Sweeney McShane, President and CEO.
“With the knowledge that there is a heightened risk of homelessness at the time of pregnancy and birth of a child, we are seizing the opportunity to integrate services at the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center,” said DHS Director Laura Zeilinger. “Through this exciting partnership with Community of Hope we expect to help families achieve safety and access to health care, improving infant and maternal health outcomes.”
Although more research is needed, limited data shows that pregnant people in this situation are more likely to experience late entry into prenatal care and frequent visits to the emergency room. Due to a variety of interrelated barriers they have a higher risk of gestational hypertension and hemorrhage and poor birth outcomes like preterm birth and low birth weight. Hospital readmissions in the first 12 months postpartum are also a higher likelihood. Overall, families are urgently seeking both stable housing and health resources simultaneously and having perinatal care coordinators integrated into the homelessness system will reduce roadblocks to care.
“The HONEY program is an outstanding example of how cross-industry partnerships can lead to improved community health and have generational impact. We are excited for the partnership with Community of Hope and DC Department of Human Services to help make the health system work better for everyone and help people live healthier lives, especially those who have experienced inequities in healthcare,” said Mylynn Tufte, population health practice lead at Optum.
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About Community of Hope
Founded in 1980, Community of Hope is a rapidly growing, innovative, and mission-driven nonprofit. Our team of over 400 caring, dedicated staff members provides housing, healthcare, and supportive services to make Washington, DC more equitable. We operate three community health centers that provide medical, dental, and emotional wellness as well as extensive patient support services which reached 14,400 people in 2022. We also work to end and prevent family homelessness in Washington, DC and are the only nonprofit in DC providing all services along the homelessness continuum, having impacted 1,302 families and 128 individuals in 2022. Our robust maternal and child health model of care provides comprehensive clinical and supportive services to over 650 pregnant people a year.
About DC Department of Human Services and the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center
The mission of the DC Department of Human Services is to empower every District resident to reach their full potential by providing meaningful connections to work opportunities, economic
assistance, and supportive services.
The Virginia Williams Family Resource Center is the central intake office for all families in the District of Columbia seeking assistance with their housing needs.
About Optum
Optum is a leading information and technology-enabled health services business dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone. With more than 220,000 people worldwide, Optum delivers intelligent, integrated solutions that help to modernize the health system and improve overall population health. Optum is part of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH). For more information, visit www.Optum.com.
Regarding HRSA Funding
This HONEY project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $2,000,000 with an additional 8% of the project costs financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.
