2025 Annual Healthy Start All-Grantee Meeting
The Healthy Start TA & Support Center (Healthy Start TASC) hosted the 2025 Annual Healthy Start All-Grantee Meeting from September 24 – 27, 2025 in Crystal City, Virginia. The meeting was facilitated in partnership with the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) and the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ).
This year’s meeting brought grantees together under the banner, “Building on the Legacy and Continuing the Mission: Collaborating to Improve Perinatal Outcomes.” Healthy Start Technical Assistance & Support Center (TASC) Senior Project Director, Karen Chustz, MSW, opened the convening by acknowledging the significance of the meeting’s timing.
“It is incredible to come together in September, which is National Infant Mortality Awareness Month, with the 115 Healthy Start grantees, the first time for the annual meeting in person since before the pandemic. The annual meeting also marks NICHQ’s 7th year working in partnership with HRSA as the TA & Support Center.”
The morning portion of day one consisted of updates from the Division of Healthy Start & Perinatal Services (DHSPS) and a compelling keynote address from Belinda Pettiford, MPH from the Division of Public Health within the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services. Pettiford spoke about her personal Healthy Start journey, the history behind the program, and the critical components of leadership necessary to continue to build on the incredible legacy of the program.
The afternoon contained thought-provoking plenary sessions. Alice Schenall, DrPH, MPH, highlighted strategic practices and pathways to resilience for attendees.
A moderated conversation, National Partners: Reviewing the Landscape of MCH Programs and Support followed, featuring Stacey Tuck, MS (AMCHP), Ashleigh Sutphen, MPH (CityMatCH), and Zhandra Levesque, DrPH, MPH (Education Development Center) sharing their perspectives on the depth that partnerships can bring to the field of maternal and child health during a thoughtful discussion with AMCHP’s Andria Cornell.
Each day included a variety of break-out sessions, which offered an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning as these sessions featured Healthy Start grantees presenting examples of their work alongside nationally renowned leaders in the field. These sessions explored topics like the Alumni Peer Navigator program, fatherhood, understanding clinical requirements, Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR), data and evaluation, sustainability, group-based education, and partnerships. Grantees had the opportunity to select which sessions to attend, and this format allowed for a more intimate and conversational atmosphere.
Day two highlighted both quantitative and qualitative data to support Healthy Start grantees to promote their work, as well as opportunities for training, and the overall future of maternal and child health.
Introduced by NICHQ‘s Senior Analyst Rebecca Huber, Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, PhD (Amaka Consulting and Evaluation Services, LLC) energetically led grantees through real-world applications of data and evaluation methods as storytelling, and the interactions between sustainability and perinatal health narratives.
To close out the second day, grantees from Healthy Start, Inc. Pittsburgh, Marillac Community Health Centers, and Broward Healthy Start Coalition discussed how to leverage community engagement to accelerate change. The final panel, which highlighted strategies for sustainability brought forth the wisdom of Brenda Blasingame, Danette McLaurin Glass, Marla Dean, EdD, and Lynda Krisowaty, MHS.
“I was hoping to learn different strategies from different organizations about how they’re retaining their clients, as well as some other things like how they’re approaching their clients, how they’re keeping them engaged, the recruitment and how they’re able to get them coming to the program. And I’ve learned so much during this meeting. There are some great projects, like one was doing daddy boot camp. It gets you thinking, ‘how can we do that over there?’ I’ve learned so much since I’ve been here,” – Star McBain, an Alumni Peer Navigator, Program Specialist, and Consortium Coordinator with the SHIELDS for Families Healthy Start Program in Los Angeles.
The third and fourth day extended opportunities for Healthy Start grantees to learn about other HRSA-funded and supported initiatives including a new project, Partnership for National MCH Leadership, launched by the Michigan Public Health Institute and the League of Voices, and the National Healthy Start Association (NHSA) hosted additional sessions on the final two days.
Throughout the week, the Healthy Start TASC’s team focused on multi-dimensional storytelling, including audio, written, and visual. Grantees had the opportunity to share soundbites in an audio corner; discuss session gems, questions, and collaborate on ways to bring lessons learned back to their respective communities on the Cvent app; and enjoy live graphic notetaking by Sunny BenBelkacem from See in Colors, who captured key takeaways from presenters.
The variation in content provided Healthy Start TASC with tools to tell stories in a way that dynamically celebrates Healthy Start’s mission. The TASC looks forward to building on this momentum to continue to propel the work under the team’s motto: Fueling Excellence So Moms & Babies Can Thrive.
To learn more about project offerings, visit the Healthy Start TASC website: https://healthystart-tasc.org/.
to accelerate Change
The Healthy Start TA & Support Center is operated by the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality™. This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UF5MC32750 titled Supporting Healthy Start Performance Project. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.
