The National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (NNPQC) hosted its 2026 Annual Meeting on May 13-15 in New Orleans, LA. The meeting brought together state Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (PQCs) to explore the theme, “Navigating a Path Forward: Advancing Perinatal Quality through Data, Collaboration, and Innovation,” in recognition of three essential drivers of progress in shaping a healthier future for mothers and babies.
Group-based education (GBE) is a pillar of Healthy Start programming. The goal of GBE is to improve maternal and infant outcomes through connection, learning, and support. Additional benefits of GBE include consistent engagement across the prenatal, postpartum, and parenting stages, community-based methods, alignment with national efforts to improve birth outcomes, and adaptability for both virtual and…
Working in a community means you are part of it. You build relationships, share spaces, and take part in daily life. This approach is about working together. It requires listening, being humble, and learning from those who are most affected. Instead of bringing in ready-made solutions, you create them together. Trust matters, and everyone is responsible. In…
Several National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) staff members attended this year’s Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) Annual Conference from March 7-10, 2026, in Washington, DC. This year’s theme, “The Power of Connection,” emphasized a key tenet of our work: relationships, partnerships, and shared purposes are essential to improving maternal and child health outcomes.
In the summer of 2023, the Alumni Peer Navigator (APN) Services pilot was established as a 1-year pilot through the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Healthy Start Initiative. The program is facilitated by the Healthy Start TA & Support Center (TASC), which provides training and technical assistance (TA) to…
Lauren Sapp, MPH, a Communications Coordinator for NICHQ’s Community-Centered Hospital Initiative (CCHI) and Maternal Health Action & Resource Center (MHARC), shares her professional goals and career journey thus far.
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,…
Laura Sabino, a Project Coordinator for NICHQ’s National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (NNPQC) and Maternal Health Action & Resource Center (MHARC), shares her professional goals and career journey thus far.
For many, this month opens a space to share what has often been held in silence. Grief after pregnancy or infant loss is unlike any other—it touches every part of life and changes how we see the world. The Conditions Beneath Our Grief Grief does not happen in a vacuum. It’s shaped by our daily…
Dr. Titilope Fasipe shares how her personal experience with SCD led her to become a pediatric hematologist, the importance of including warriors in care plans and practices, and what advocacy work she believes still needs to be done to advance SCD research and treatment.