The Maternal and Child Health Administration
Block (MCHB) Grant maintains a city-wide system of family-centered, comprehensive, quality health care for women of childbearing age, mothers, infants, children, and adolescents, including children with special health care needs. Through its agreement with the District of Columbia Health and Hospitals Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), the MCHB provides services through eight community health centers as well as the Health Services for Special Needs Children's Clinic on the campus of DC General Hospital.
The DC Healthy Start Project focuses on the needs of pregnant women and infants. The goal of these efforts is to reduce infant mortality in Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8. Special initiatives funded by this project include the Patient Incentive Program, Case Management, Facilitating Services (transportation), and Education and Training. The project also sponsors two Maternity Outreach Mobile (MOM) Units and the H.D. Woodson Senior High School Adolescent Wellness Center.
The Abstinence Education Initiative promotes the postponement of sexual involvement among youth age 9-14 who reside in Wards 5, 7, and 8, and to promote abstinence as a means to prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. (More Information)
The DC Systems Development Initiative (DCSDI) advocates for a coordinated system of primary health care for DC families. Since 1995, DCSDI's focus has been consumer education and empowerment, with an emphasis on negotiating the Medicaid Managed Care System.
The Community Integrated Services Initiative (CISS) creates resources for children and families at risk of abuse and neglect. The focus is on substance-abusing pregnant and postpartum women and their drug-exposed infants. The project is an integral part of the District's five-year Family Preservation and Support Services plan.
