MAEC Awarded Grant by the Maryland Department of Health
BETHESDA, MD — APRIL 3, 2020 — MAEC, Inc. has been awarded a Maryland Department of Health grant to conduct a needs assessment for the Maternal and Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (“MIECHV”). The grant runs through September 2020.
The MIECHV statewide needs assessment is a critical and foundational resource to assist in recognizing and understanding how to best meet the diverse needs of families with young children living in Maryland.
MAEC was selected for this grant because of its expertise in engaging and surveying culturally, linguistically and economically diverse stakeholders, specifically: teen parents, parents in urban areas, parents in rural areas, parents affected by substance abuse, and tribal communities.
In addition to the comprehensive assessment, MAEC will also conduct a document review, surveys, and focus groups to evaluate the current needs of various communities, their capacity for supporting home visiting programs, and the current quality of existing programs.
Findings will help inform Maryland’s strategic decision-making, including evaluating Maryland’s ability to provide substance abuse treatment and counseling services to young caregivers, and finding opportunities for collaboration to strengthen and expand services for families facing adversity. The final report will serve as a powerful tool for home visiting programs in the state to enable informed decision-making on expansion and additional support services.
For nearly three decades, MAEC has been at the forefront of education equity and the complex intersections of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, language, and socioeconomic status to address underlying biases and racism in communities. Over time, the demand for both expertise in equity and inherent understanding of communities facing adversity led MAEC to expand beyond the realm of education, lending its equity lens to all organizations that wish to achieve improved outcomes for high-risk populations.
Based in Bethesda, Maryland, MAEC began as a regional nonprofit organization serving Greater Washington, and has now expanded its reach providing expert guidance, training, and technical assistance to communities across the nation.
MAEC is very excited to lend its expert equity lens to the Maryland Department of Health’s 2020 MIECHV needs assessment.
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