Partnering with MIECHV

The Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program that facilitates collaboration and partnership at the federal, state, and community levels to improve the health of at-risk children through evidence-based home visiting programs, has the real potential to grow significantly over the next five years, supporting salaries that can help recruit and retain staff and allow programs to reach more families. 

This was the year for the reauthorization of MIECHV! With overwhelming bipartisan support, legislation was included in the year-end package of ‘must-pass’ bills. And, thankfully, the National Home Visiting Coalition’s (NHVC) priorities were substantially met: five years, doubling the tribal set aside, and allowing the continuation of virtual home visits. Parents as Teachers, a leader in the steering committee of the NHVC, helped raise and manage more than $450,000 in grant funding to build visibility and awareness of home visiting with lawmakers on the Hill in Washington, D.C. 

Parents as Teachers also conducted a day-long campaign kickoff in Baltimore, Maryland, and hosted a virtual Hill staff briefing with welcomes from U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and a panel discussion with family voice. Parents as Teachers recruited witnesses for several congressional briefings, met virtually with dozens of Members of Congress, and sent more than 3,600 messages to Congress from across the country.

In late September, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022. It had 183 co-sponsors, 85 Republican and 98 Democrat. The late Jackie Walorski was the Congresswoman and Ranking Member of the Worker and Family Support Subcommittee of Ways and Means who had been negotiating tirelessly with Subcommittee Chair, Danny Davis, when she died, tragically, in August. Final reauthorization, with her name, fittingly honors Ms. Walorski’s legacy.