2024 Challenge Grants
In 2024, Parents as Teachers awarded $1.8 million to 62 affiliates and five Parents as Teachers State Offices. More than 230 applications were received, all detailing worthy projects in the following categories, Combating Maternal and Infant Mortality, Family Leadership Development, Workforce Development, Program Quality Improvement, Marketing/Communication Support, and Community Responsiveness.
The awardees deepened their impact in their communities through a wide variety of activities. These included community baby showers with the goal of addressing infant-safe sleep deaths and providing vital resources for expectant families, purchasing Pack N’ Plays for expectant mothers, safe sleep assessments, promoting safe sleep practices, and training of parent educators as full spectrum and post-partum doulas.
The projects also strengthened community ties by offering parents networking opportunities, launching a new, permanent PBS Kids Reading Room exhibit at a local history museum, engaging parents in leadership training and as speakers in statewide conferences. They also gave parents opportunities to influence program changes to ensure that parent voices are central in continuous improvement processes and program efforts.
These awards also saw efforts to tackle disparities within Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) communities, where health, social, economic, and educational inequalities persist. Affiliates received various trainings on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and began fostering anti-racist practices within their work and building cultural competency.
A notable project was an Indigenous Parenting Conference, where multigenerational Indigenous families were brought together for trauma-informed parenting workshops, community-building activities, and storytelling. This two-day event honored Indigenous fathers and included a community blanketing ceremony to celebrate the participants.
Many awardees sought to enhance the professional development of staff. Parent Educators pursued certifications as Postpartum Doulas to better support families both prenatally and postnatally, obtained certifications in infant mental health, and completed hundreds of hours in continuing education and specialty endorsements.
In efforts to enhance staff engagement and reduce turnover, staff members were incentivized through stipends for meeting performance goals and completing professional development milestones.
Two vehicles were purchased to improve the mobility of a home visiting team. Social media campaigns, website revisions, along with purchasing of signs, billboards, media spots and brochures helped affiliates promote themselves and their work in their communities.
All of these efforts reflect Parents as Teachers ongoing commitment to supporting families, fostering community connections, and addressing systemic inequities to create a more equitable future for all. Thanks to Enterprise Mobility, this well-received and impactful initiative will continue into 2025 with another round of Challenge Grants to be awarded for the 2025-2026 program year.
