Healthy Families Community-Based Perinatal Health Initiative

The Office of Minority Health (OMH) is dedicated to improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities. Through its demonstration projects, OMH supports the identification of effective approaches for improving health outcomes with the goal of promoting dissemination and sustainability of these approaches.OMH intends projects funded under the Healthy Families Community-Based Perinatal Health Initiative (COPHI) to develop innovative models for integrating community-based maternal support services (COMSS) into perinatal systems of care.  COMSS are social and supportive services that address social determinants of health (SDOH), such as health literacy; pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting education; cultural and linguistic diversity; exposure to trauma, housing; food; and transportation. These services are provided during pregnancy, labor and delivery and after delivery by trained individuals, such as doulas and community health workers. Integrating COMSS into perinatal systems of care will ultimately improve pregnant and post-partum people's health outcomes and reduce racial and ethnic disparities.