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ABOUT US

National Resource, Partner & Advocate

The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) is a national resource, partner, and advocate for state public health leaders who work and support state maternal and child health programs and others working to improve the health of women, children, youth, families, and communities.

We build successful programs by disseminating best practices, advocating on behalf of our members in Washington, DC, providing technical assistance, convening leaders to share experiences and ideas, and advising states to reach our common goal of healthy children, healthy families, and healthy communities.

OUR MEMBERS

Protect and Promote

AMCHP members come from the highest levels of state government. They include directors of maternal and child health programs, directors of programs for children with special health care needs, and other public health leaders who work and support state maternal and child health programs. AMCHP’s membership also includes academic, advocacy, community-based family health professionals, adolescent health coordinators, program managers, epidemiologists, family leaders, people with lived experience with the challenges AMCHP endeavor to solve, as well as families themselves.

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Emerging Practice

Youth Advisory Board Toolkit

Over the past four years, the Indiana Department of Health has worked to build a Youth Advisory Board and create a space for meaningful youth engagement. After much planning, the first Indiana Youth Advisory Board (IYAB) was formed in June 2022. The board has grown from a promising idea to a meaningful component of Indiana’s behavioral health landscape. Launched in 2022 as a joint venture between the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) and Department of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA), the first IYAB included a group of 45 young people, ranging in age from 14 to 24. The second cohort consists of 60 new youth and six returning leaders from the first cohort. Their collective energy, commitment, and hard work has had a significant impact on how Indiana understands and addresses the health needs of adolescents and young adults. All youth serve as paid board members to the department of health and the team consistently strives to have youth lead the work – impacting youth and young adults most significantly by giving them a voice and space in state government. The board aims to impact the future of Hoosier youth and young adults by amplifying their voices when it comes to health needs and empowering them to educate, change, and lead. Read More

Cutting-Edge Practice

The R.U.S.H. Initiative

The R.U.S.H. Initiative is designed to make critical health context available for every patient with special health needs, across the regional Responder community — to every firefighter, medic, public safety officer, physician, nurse and school nurse — at no cost to them…FOREVER. In an emergency—if the phone used to call 9-1-1 wasn’t flagged at a dispatch center—Responders know nothing about the patient’s special health needs. Lack of real-time awareness when responding can lead to errors due to a lack of context. “What would you have done differently if you knew about the patient’s special health needs?” is a traumatic question to patients, families, and every care provider. The R.U.S.H. Initiative closes this critical information gap by pairing a secure, interoperable, opt-in, multi-language, registry with local clinical partnerships (Fire, EMS & Public Safety). As of the start of 2024, over 2.75 million children and young people with special health needs are under coverage of the R.U.S.H. Initiative, thanks to generous support from organizations like Amazon Web Services (AWS). Read More

Promising Practice

Healthy Beginnings at Home

Healthy Beginnings at Home (HBAH) provides rental assistance, housing navigation, and case management for pregnant women experiencing housing instability to increase positive health outcomes for moms and babies. Read More

Cutting-Edge Practice

Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Initiative: Faith-based MCH Promotion

The Faith-based Initiative of the Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Initiative focuses on building relations in community with faith-based organizations of all religions to build capacity within structure of ministerial and mission work to promotion positive maternal and infant health. Read More

Promising Practice

Becoming a Mom® Prenatal Education Program, Implemented through the Kansas Perinatal Community Collaborative Model

Becoming a Mom® (BaM) / Comenzando bien® (Cb) is a prenatal education program created by the March of Dimes, delivered through a community collaborative model in Kansas to improve knowledge, promote healthy behaviors, and enhance birth outcomes, particularly for pregnant persons at highest risk of adverse outcomes. Read More

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RECENT NEWS

Supporting our mission one step at a time

The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs Announces 2025 Board of Directors Election Results

The election results were presented during the Annual Business Meeting held on March 18 in Washington, DC Washington, DC - The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) is pleased to announce that the AMCHP membership has elected a new slate of...

The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs Announces 2025 AMCHP Annual Award Winners

The awards will be presented at the 2025 AMCHP Annual Conference from March 15 – 18, in Washington, DC Washington, DC - The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP), an organization committed to advancing the health of women, children, youth, and...

Government Shutdown Staved Off through March 2025

After a tumultuous week of negotiations on multiple iterations of a bill to avert a government shutdown, Congress passed legislation to extend funding for the federal government through March 14, 2025. The short-term funding bill – known as a continuing resolution or...

UPCOMING EVENTS

Connected through our common goal

AMCHP Policy & Partnerships Town Hall: April 2025

April 10, 2025Webinar

Webinar – The Illinois Family Recovery Plans Implementation Task Force Act: Understanding the Steps to Policy Reform Using a Coalition Approach

Webinar - The Illinois Family Recovery Plans Implementation Task Force Act: Understanding the Steps to Policy Reform Using a Coalition Approach

May 6, 2025Webinar

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