Since July 2023, Alumni Peer Navigator (APN) services have launched at six Healthy Start (HS) sites nationwide, enabling fifteen navigators to serve 200+ families across the United States in tribal, urban, and rural areas. The team conducted site visits to connect with families and the APNs serving them, gathering insights through interviews. Feedback revealed high satisfaction with the pilot, with 81% of families reported their APN made it easier for them to get access to resources, and 61% reported that after working with an APN, they felt confident they could find resources for themselves and their children. Additionally, 100% of the leadership of the six HS APN pilot sites reported that the APNs improved their HS program and that they would recommend other HS grantees offer APN services. In 2024, the second year of the pilot, HS program staff and the HS technical assistance provider worked with HS APN pilot sites to develop a sustainability plan to enable the sites to continue offering APN services to their clients. To further support adoption and implementation, the team shared the APN Services Playbook with HS sites as a comprehensive guide.

See the 2024 project evaluation plan to learn about the project measures and methods.

The Benefits Bundle pilot assists grantees of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Healthy Start program, a longstanding Federal program to reduce infant mortality rates and address social determinants of health. The Benefits Bundle team developed a new peer-based model to help Healthy Start families navigate the transition to parenthood. For this peer-based model, the team created the role of “Alumni Navigator,” a mother who recently completed the Healthy Start program at the pilot location, and has experience navigating benefits enrollment (e.g., Medicaid and WIC) and accessing key community resources and supports. Alumni Navigators are therefore uniquely qualified to provide new families with social, informational, and emotional support and deliver a “bundled” set of critical resources. The six pilot partner grantees have collectively hired 16 Alumni Navigators who have served more than 170 families across grantee sites (Atlanta, Baton Rouge, New York City, Los Angeles, the PeeDee Region, and Turtle Mountain Reservation). The interagency Benefits Bundle team included perspectives from HHS (both ACF and CMS), DOL, HUD, and USDA in developing the “Benefits Bundle” set of resources for Healthy Start families. Among the set of Federal benefits, the Alumni Navigators are focusing on WIC and Medicaid.

The team expects to summarize insights from the six pilots in a Benefits Bundle Playbook to inform other Federal programs and State Medicaid programs; the team will iterate and fine tune the guide in FY24 Q2.

Building on the successful distribution of 3,000 Kits in three states (Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico) in 2023, the Newborn Supply Kit initiative expanded three-fold in 2024. Throughout 2024, the project team continued distribution across the existing three states and expanded to seven additional states with high maternal and infant mortality: Alabama, California, Georgia, Mississippi, New York, Tennessee, and Texas. Across the ten states, the team formed partnerships with hospitals, Federally-qualified health centers, and community-based organizations to distribute 10,000 Kits to families in 2024. Recent feedback from a distribution partner included: “...these kits have had a huge impact on the families we serve. In addition…it has also had an impact on staff who feel empowered by being able to give out such an amazing resource to our clients.”

In October 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services published the evaluation results from the 2023 pilot in a report and blog. The findings demonstrated that families universally recommend the Kit, that the Kits have a positive impact on reducing maternal mental stress, and that receipt of a Kit can improve trust by increasing positive perceptions of government. These results were highlighted, along with a personal family testimonial on the impact of receiving a Kit, during a broadcast CNN news story in October 2024. Lastly, this initiative has developed bipartisan support with a draft bill (The NEST Act) to expand and fund the program introduced in the House of Representatives.

See the 2024 project evaluation plan to learn about the project measures and methods.

The team designed a Newborn Supply Kit to provide new families with basic educational materials and physical supplies needed in the first few weeks postpartum, modeled from successful programs in other countries. Following the establishment of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between HHS and a nonprofit delivery partner, Baby2Baby, Vice President Kamala Harris and ACF Administrator January Contreras launched the pilot in May 2023. Since then, seven pilot site distribution partners have provided 3,000 Newborn Supply Kits to any mother having a baby at a pilot site hospital, which were selected based on high maternal and infant mortality rates, high rates of maternal mental health conditions, and areas that score highly on the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index. Pilot sites are currently operating in Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico.

Data available from HHS reflects that those receiving Kits include those living in rural areas, Tribal populations, and those with very low incomes. Preliminary participant feedback suggests that families are very satisfied with the contents of their Kit. Early data shows trends that receiving a Kit may improve families’ trust in government and may make them more likely to enroll in support programs for which they are likely eligible. The team’s initial findings make the Newborn Supply Kit a compelling model for further research as a mechanism to reach and build trust with new families.

The team established intergovernmental partnerships through pilot projects with state and local programs to make one-way texting part of outreach programs. The first pilot partner, the City of Norfolk’s Department of Human Services in Virginia, used the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Notify.gov government text messaging tool to send over 30,000 text messages to Medicaid enrollees, reminding them to renew their coverage. Partnering with GSA’s Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES), the team conducted rigorous data collection to evaluate the program’s effectiveness, with plans to share results in the coming year. Evaluation results will help inform how to make text messages about government programs more effective for families with children. The newest pilot partner, Arizona’s Early Intervention Program, officially launched their text program to reach families whose children were referred for early intervention services but whose cases closed due to loss of contact. The goal is to re-engage families so they can access services to support their child's development.

See the 2024 project evaluation plan to learn about the project measures and methods.

The team designed and launched a prototype for a new Federal notification service, Notify.gov (now available in beta), to be used by State and local agencies that administer Federal programs. As envisioned, these agencies will be able to send text messages at crucial points throughout the benefits application and renewal process to help families know about, enroll in, and re-certify for the Federal programs that provide them with support.

For the first iteration of the prototype, the team has been collaborating with the City of Norfolk (Virginia) Department of Human Services to co-design a texting campaign. The end of the Public Health Emergency led to changes in eligibility rules for multiple Federal programs, including Medicaid and CHIP. In Virginia, the notification service will help thousands of Virginia families learn about Medicaid renewal deadlines and requirements to enable eligible families to maintain health insurance coverage.