Parents as Teachers Receives $1.04 Million Grant from Bezos Family Foundation to Advance Life-Saving Maternal Health Initiative

ST. LOUIS, June 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Parents as Teachers National Center has been awarded a transformative $1.04 million grant from the Bezos Family Foundation to support two innovative initiatives aimed at strengthening families and promoting positive child development outcomes.

The grant includes the disbursement of $790,000 over three years to pilot the integration of doula support services into the Parents as Teachers evidence-based home visiting model—a program that has been successful in the organization's home state of Missouri. Over the three-year grant period, the doula pilot program will operate in partnership with select Parents as Teachers affiliates. Implementation will also include developing a "Doula Lens" content and training modules, training Parents as Teachers parent educators, integrating doulas into home visits, and evaluating outcomes for more than 186,000 families across the country.

"We are incredibly grateful to the Bezos Family Foundation for this generous investment in family well-being," said Constance Gully, president and CEO of Parents as Teachers. "Combining our model with skilled doula care has great potential to improve maternal and child health, increase breastfeeding success, facilitate secure parent-child bonding, and more." 

The remaining $250,000 over two years will fund the ongoing work of the National Home Visiting Coalition, led by a steering committee of 12 organizations committed to expanding access to high-quality home visiting programs nationwide. This funding will allow the Coalition to build on recent successes while pursuing strategies to maximize federal and other funding sources.

The National Home Visiting Coalition aims to raise awareness of home visiting's benefits, support the effective implementation of recent federal legislation, such as the MIECHV reauthorization, and explore sustainable financing models involving sources like Medicaid.

Both initiatives have the potential for far-reaching, multigenerational impacts by strengthening foundational family support during the critical prenatal-to-three period.

"Parents as Teachers looks forward to partnering with the Bezos Family Foundation, affiliates, doulas, and committed stakeholders nationwide to advance this important work," said Gully.

About Parents as Teachers

Parents as Teachers' programs build strong communities, thriving families, and children by matching parents and caregivers with trained professionals who make regular personal home visits during a child's earliest years in life, from pregnancy through kindergarten. The internationally recognized evidence-based home visiting model is backed by 40 years of research-proven outcomes for children and families. Parents as Teachers currently serves 180,000 families in all 50 U.S. states, 115 Tribal organizations, five other countries, and one U.S. territory. Parents as Teachers National Center, Inc. is located in St. Louis, MO.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Peters
[email protected] 

SOURCE Parents as Teachers