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Nurse-Family Partnership

Break the cycle of inter-generational poverty for hundreds of thousands of families affected by economic and social inequity by supporting first-time parents.

The Scale of the Problem

Each year, 380,000 children are born to low-income first-time mothers facing economic and social inequity living below the federal poverty line. Many of the mothers served by Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) also have additional challenges, like homelessness, substance abuse, and intimate partner violence.  A growing body of evidence shows the first 1,000 days of a child’s development are a vital window of opportunity – when families are poised to create positive changes in their lives that can have a lasting impact.

Premature Births

Children are more likely to be born premature – with poor physical, psychological, and cognitive health outcomes

22x

Children are 22 times more likely to suffer abuse and neglect

Lower Wages

As adults, children born into these homes are more likely to earn lower wages and receive public assistance later in life

A Promising Solution

Nurse-Family Partnership is a national home visitation program backed by four decades of scientific research that has achieved remarkable results by partnering with first-time, low-income mothers to overcome obstacles and create better lives for themselves and their children. Health and development interventions delivered during the first two years of life have a strong, demonstrable impact on an individual’s health and well-being over the course of their lifetime. NFP capitalizes on this critical window of opportunity and its program has demonstrated success improving pregnancy outcomes, child health and development, and families’ economic self-sufficiency.

45%

reduction in infant deaths

48%

reduction in child abuse and neglect

82%

increase in maternal employment

Blue Meridian's Investment

Our investment supports the second four-year phase of Nurse-Family Partnership’s eight-year Scaling Plan, which seeks to make its home visitation model more widely available so that over 20% of all eligible mothers in the US can benefit from the program. NFP plans to continue to grow its network as well as position its National Service Office to be sustainably funded. Key markers of success include the following:

$43M invested over 4 years

Reach nearly 80,000 families annually

Continue to reduce costs, ensure effective program implementation, and sustainably fund the National Service Office

Why We Are Excited About Nurse-Family Partnership

Every organization in our Nationwide Solution investment portfolio has embarked on significant scaling and continues to make progress toward their goals. Here are some highlights of Nurse-Family Partnership’s potential for continued growth, which motivated us to make an additional investment:

Strong Evidence of Results

NFP’s extraordinary evidence base, return on investment, and proven ability to change lives positions it to make a powerful impact toward breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Started as a research project by Dr. David Olds, NFP now has four decades of rigorous research demonstrating that the program improves pregnancy outcomes, children’s health and development, and families’ economic independence, while providing an estimated net benefit to society of more than $60,000 for each high-risk family served.

Over the next seven years NFP will make its home visitation model widely available so that over a quarter of all eligible mothers – 100,000 – have the opportunity to participate and benefit from the program each year.

Tremendous Track Record of Growth

Building on a research project that started in 1976 in Colorado, NFP’s replication began in 1996 and has since served more than 340,000 families and operates in 40 states and tribal communities. In 2003, NFP’s National Service Office was created to drive widespread implementation. During Phase I of its Scaling Plan, NFP doubled its pace of growth and served twice as many families annually than it did before embarking on scaling. This remarkable growth demonstrates that NFP’s model can be effectively replicated with fidelity in different types of communities and with a wide variety of local partners.

Commitment to Continuous Improvement

For 40 years, NFP has achieved remarkable results with many positive impacts on low-income, first- time mothers and their children. Instead of remaining satisfied with the status quo, NFP has pushed itself to continuously improve, including working toward achieving sustainable funding, increasing efficiency in delivering its model, and exploring opportunities to diversify its programs to reach more families.

About Nurse-Family Partnership

Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a national home visitation program that sends specially trained nurses to visit low-income, expectant mothers regularly during their first pregnancy and throughout the first two years of their children’s lives. NFP delivers a range of vital services and support to families, and has achieved remarkable results helping first-time low-income mothers create better lives for themselves and their children.

Learn more about Nurse-Family Partnership

Charlotte Min-Harris

President and CEO

Charlotte Min-Harris is the President and CEO of NFP. Previously, she was the vice president of grants operations at Daniels Fund, a $1.5 billion private charitable foundation in Denver. While there, she led an effort to grow a low-income assistance program and implement it statewide. Before that, she served as the chief operating officer with the Colorado and Wyoming office of the American Red Cross. She holds a Master of Global Studies from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s and master’s in advertising from Michigan State University.

Better Worlds Start with Great Mothers

Participants and staff share the positive effects of Nurse-Family Partnership.

Better Worlds Start with Great Mothers

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