November 30, 2023

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November 30, 2023

AMCHP Annual Conference

Have you saved the date for the 2 024 Annual Conference? Mark your calendars to join us April 13-16, 2024, at the Oakland Marriott City Center, in Oakland, California! We will continue to offer content in-person and virtually through our conference platform with the theme Partnering with Purpose. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our Annual Conference Newsletter to be the first to receive updates and information about the conference, and share the link with your peers!

Conference Platform is Now LIVE

Everything about AMCHP 2024 is now available in one place! Visit our conference platform to view the schedule at-a-glance (which includes opportunities for networking and skill-building sessions as well as plenty of impactful workshops and inspiring plenary sessions.), hotel and travel information, and much more!

Early Bird Registration is OPEN

Early Bird registration for the 2024 AMCHP Annual Conference is now open! Register to attend in person or virtually by February 12, 2024, to take advantage of the early bird pricing. Visit our conference platform to view more information regarding registration rates, including discounted rates for youth/students, community-based organizations, tribal entities, and family leaders.

Are you not sure whether you will attend in person or virtually? You can change your attendance status without penalties until March 11, 2024.

Start planning your attendance and register now to secure your spot!

Now Accepting Hotel Reservations

You can now make your hotel reservation to attend AMCHP 2024 in person. Book your stay at the Oakland Marriott in Oakland, CA, by March 16, 2024, or until the block sells out. We look forward to seeing you!

Support Youth, Family Leaders, Community-Rooted Partners, and Representatives of Tribal Entities at Our Upcoming Annual Conference

Our annual conference is fast approaching. While we can’t wait to see you at AMCHP 2024, we also recognize the deep value of having youth and young adult leaders (including students), family leaders, community-based organizations (CBOs), community-rooted partners, and representatives of tribal entities attend as well.

AMCHP has composed a letter from our President and CEO providing further details about ways to support these individuals to attend. We shared a similar letter last year, and based on our conference evaluation, it inspired jurisdictions to financially support 10 youth and young adult leaders (including students), family leaders, CBOs, community-rooted partners, and tribal government representatives to participate. Nearly a quarter of those who received the letter indicated that it helped them build or strengthen relationships with the individuals that they sponsored to attend the conference.

We are hopeful that this letter will have the same, or an even larger, impact this year. We also hope that it inspires you and your colleagues to have conversations about ways that you can further partner with purpose and support these individuals and groups in your own work.

Check out our conference registration page for more information.

AMCHP Annual Conference Scholarship

The AMCHP Annual Conference Scholarship aims to invite and financially support youth and young adult leaders (including students), family leaders, community‐based organizations (CBOs), and representatives of tribal entities involved with maternal and child health (MCH) efforts to attend. Often, community members and youth and young adults are not involved, integrated, or prioritized when it comes to the various policies and programs that impact their peers and families. Cultivating and sustaining relationships with diverse leaders cannot be achieved without amplifying, supporting, and compensating the efforts of community leaders who contribute to the vitality of maternal and child health. This effort ties directly into the overall theme of partnership for this year’s upcoming conference while also being a focus of AMCHP’s strategic plan around partnership development.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT?

AMCHP is committed to providing a space and audience so that the talent and expertise of community representatives are recognized and integrated into MCH priorities. Fostering an environment at the conference to learn from, network with, and share insights with one another is a great opportunity for you to do so as well! We believe that supporting representatives to attend the conference will increase your program’s capacity in youth and community engagement as well as leadership development and will be a meaningful step toward building and sustaining trusting relationships with these groups in your state or jurisdiction.

We encourage you to visit our conference registration page and consider making the financial investment to send youth and young adults, family leaders, CBOs, and representatives of tribal entities from your state or jurisdiction to the conference either in-person or virtually.

New Blog Post – Bridging Communities Through Strategic Partnerships: AMCHP 2024 Partnering with Purpose

As maternal and child health (MCH) professionals, our purpose remains at the heart of every decision, collaboration, and initiative we undertake. This year, as we focus on intentional impact, we introduce our 2024 AMCHP Annual Conference theme: Partnering with Purpose. AMCHP has always believed that collaboration isn’t just about joining forces, but coming together with intent, direction, and vision to make an impact for communities.

The AMCHP 2024 theme acknowledges a foundational concept: while we are powerful as individuals, our true strength is magnified through collaboration. It calls upon each of us in the MCH community to be deliberate about who we partner with and how we forge these relationships. Through this idea, we are choosing a path rooted in authenticity as we seek to amplify the voices of those we serve, understand power dynamics, and ensure that our joint efforts reflect genuine respect and mutual goals.  [read more]

AMCHP Announcements

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Call for 2024 AMCHP Annual Award Nominations is OPEN!

AMCHP is now accepting nominations for the 2024 AMCHP Annual Awards! The awards will be presented at the AMCHP Annual Conference, April 13-16, 2024, in Oakland, CA.

Every year, AMCHP recognizes individuals in the maternal and child health (MCH) community who have gone above and beyond to positively impact those around them. Leaders, innovators, professionals, youth, and legislators are nominated and selected based on their commitment and contributions to advancing MCH.

Visit our webpage to view the award categories and descriptions.

Interested in nominating someone? Register to join our webinar on December 7 from 3-4 pm ET to learn more about the nomination process from AMCHP Staff and Board leadership. You can also visit our webpage to view past winners from 2022 and 2023 for inspiration!

Ready to nominate? If you would like to get started, please fill out this nomination form and submit all nomination materials to awards @amchp.org by January 12, 2024.

New MCH Bridges Podcast – What the Health is Ecology of Homelessness?!

Our newest MCH Bridges episode is now live! Episode 16– “What the Health is Ecology of Homelessness?!”

November is National Youth Homelessness Awareness Month. Severe weather, extreme temperatures, and natural disasters present vastly increased challenges for homeless communities. Listen to our latest MCH Bridges and What the Health?! crossover episode, led by AMCHP’s Youth Voice Amplified (YVA) committee, to learn about how climate change is directly affecting people experiencing homelessness. You’ll hear from guest hosts Mitra Kashani, environmental public health scientist, and Lisa Brooks, expert in the homelessness system, as they share what homelessness can look like from an individual and systems-level perspective – confronting common misconceptions, emphasizing the impacts of climate change on marginalized and rural communities, and highlighting the opportunities to address this issue by partnering with and centering people with lived experience.

Tune in now to listen to guest host Amber Woodside and speakers Lisa and Mitra as they share their lived experiences and professional insights. In addition, as we enter into this season of giving and gratitude, consider ways you might be able to give back to your community members experiencing homelessness, especially youth.

Disclaimer: This episode discusses topics of climate change, natural disasters, loss, death, discrimination, and homelessness. Please prioritize your mental health and consider if you are ready to listen to this episode. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. You can also sign up to join virtual sharing and listening sessions for people experiencing climate anxiety at www.climateawakening.org. Additionally, the findings and conclusions in this podcast shared by Mitra Kashani are those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why tune in to MCH Bridges?

MCH Bridges is intended to help our listeners create new connections to MCH leaders, organizations, and ideas. We aim to inspire and guide listeners towards actions that will improve the systems that impact MCH populations. 

Who should listen to MCH Bridges?

MCH Bridges is designed for Title V MCH & CYSHCN leaders, state and jurisdictional health department staff, individuals with lived experience and their families, MCH faculty and students, public health professionals, and others wanting to learn more about supporting MCH populations and equitable systems of care. 

Deadline Approaching: Apply to Become a New AMCHP Association Committee Member by December 6!

The 2024 Call for New Association Committee Members is open until December 6! You still have time to easily apply by filling out the new committee member application!

Are you interested in effecting meaningful change nationally and have your voice heard on MCH matters? Are you a family leader working in maternal and child health (MCH)? Are you a student, youth, or young adult leader looking to get more involved in the MCH discipline? If you answered yes to any of these questions – you are especially encouraged to apply!

To learn more about our committees, please visit our website.

Why join AMCHP Association Committees?

The AMCHP Association Committees assist our organization in carrying out our mission, goals, and strategic plan. Committees provide critical guidance to our board and staff and recommendations for policy analysis and development. Serving as a committee member also offers rich professional development opportunities and, potentially, provides a future pathway toward greater leadership roles at AMCHP.

This is also an outstanding opportunity for family leaders to advance the role of families in the design and creation of state, local, and national health systems serving women and children, including children and youth with special health care needs. Committees also offer student, youth, and young adult leaders the opportunity to ensure their voices are elevated and their diverse and unique lived experience is included in our organization and the broader MCH field through AMCHP’s programs and policies activities.

Although AMCHP has committees specifically dedicated to working with family leaders (Family LEAD) and youth (Youth Voice Amplified), we highly encourage you to consider joining any of our open committees, as we aim to have your voices represented across all of AMCHP’s work.

Hear directly from current dedicated committee members:

“I volunteered for the AMCHP Family LEAD Committee because I believe it is important to have the voices of those with lived experience at every level. My favorite part of serving was meeting and working with other MCH Family Leaders and Staff Members from all over the country. I enthusiastically encourage others to join an AMCHP Committee, as it is a great way to give strategic input, and to learn more about Maternal and Child Health Programs throughout the country.”

– Anna Cyr (she/her), MCH Coordinator/Family Leadership Liaison, Maine CDC, AMCHP Family LEAD Committee Member

– Molly Martzke (she/her), Senior Program Manager, Expecting Health, AMCHP Family LEAD Committee Member

How to Apply?

AMCHP requires all committee volunteers to be active members of our organization. If you are not an active member, you are welcome to join us – It’s very easy! Please visit our website to learn more about becoming a member of AMCHP.

To apply to be newly appointed to one of our committees, serving from January through December 2024, active members of our organization are encouraged to fill out our new committee member application by EOD Wednesday, December 6.

The call for new committee members will remain open throughout the year, and you may be contacted as committee openings arise. If you have any questions about becoming a member of an AMCHP Association Committee, please contact us at info@amchp.org.

Share this information with your peers! Download our Call for New Committee Member informational flyer.

Recent AMCHP Announcements

AMCHP Events & Webinars

Maternal and Child Health Journal Special Issue: Public Health Approaches to Perinatal Substance Use

In early December 2023, the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) will release a special Maternal and Child Health Journal issue on public health approaches to perinatal substance use.

The special Maternal and Child Health Journal issue features 21 open-access articles focusing on the latest research, programs, and policy initiatives related to perinatal substance use. Please join AMCHP and ASTHO on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, at 12:30 pm ET for a virtual forum to unveil the special issue. The event will feature remarks by AMCHP, ASTHO, and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau within the Health Resources and Services Administration, and a select group of authors from the special issue will present their work and engage in enriching discussion.

Register for the event today! Registering for the event will ensure you are notified about the special issue release and AMCHP’s social media toolkit.

For questions, please get in touch with Amani Echols at aechols@amchp.org.

New From AMCHP

AMCHP Launches the Healthy Beginnings Learning Bundles

AMCHP’s Women’s and Infant Health team is excited to announce the launch of the Healthy Beginnings with Title V Learning Bundles– an immersive experience designed to support equitable partnerships between Title V and community-based organization participants, center bi-directional learning of anti-racist strategies to improve perinatal health and highlight areas of improvement for Title V to address.

In December 2022, a learning and practice cohort, comprised of six state maternal and child health (MCH) agencies and six local birth justice organizations, convened for an 18-month-long journey to identify action plans that address racism in policy, data, and funding structures at the state level that sustain inequities in perinatal health. Through continuous conversations, AMCHP worked with cohort members and a range of collaborators to create a curriculum that addresses the needs of community-rooted organizations and identifies the levels and impacts of racism in everyday MCH practice.

These learning bundles provide foundational materials and resources for Title V and other MCH agencies to aid in the process of strengthening racial health equity competence. The resources center topical areas of expressed interest and requests from the cohort, and reflect the expertise of the community partners, Steering Committee members, AMCHP staff, and Title V participants. AMCHP is excited to share with you the curriculum developed by the Healthy Beginnings team!

Here’s a preview of what you’ll get to experience through the learning bundles:

Explore how the Healthy Beginnings Cohort was created.
Practice ways of reframing conventional public health terms in the Conversation on Harm Reducing Language learning bundle.
Create guidelines on protecting community intellectual property in the Protecting Community Intellectual Property learning bundle.
Learn ways to shift power dynamic structures that threaten equitable partnership in Understanding Power Dynamics and Privilege learning bundle.
Address how white supremacy culture and anti-Blackness foster environments of scarcity and stifle relationship and power-building in the Collaboration NOT Competition learning bundle.

Visit our webpage for more information and to access the learning bundles! Email wih@amchp.org for any assistance using the site or questions.

New Food Security Topic Page Available on AMCHP’s Website

AMCHP is excited to share that our new food security topic page is now available on our website! This interactive collection of resources highlights policies and practices that promote culturally relevant solutions to address inequities in food security for maternal and child health (MCH) populations.

AMCHP’s approach to increasing food security includes uplifting the existing community-rooted organizations and families whose well-being has been impacted by low food security and working alongside them as partners. The goal of this initiative is to support Title V MCH programs in their current and future work collaborating with a range of partners, including:

Community-rooted organizations;
Families impacted by low food security; and
Federal and state nutrition programs.

The new topic page features:

Food Security Practices and Programs Database: Explore our searchable database designed to help you find practices and programs that promote equitable solutions that address food security. You can customize your search parameters to meet your specific needs and interests.
Title V Food Security Snapshots: Discover a series of snapshots of each jurisdiction that currently has a State Performance Measure prioritizing food security.
AMCHP’s Project Highlights & Partnerships: Learn about some of AMCHP’s intentional partnerships and projects we have led or been a part of addressing food security, including our early childhood nutrition learning modules.
Additional Resources: Check out some resources from our partners at the Association of State Public Health Nutritionists surrounding food and nutrition policy, programs, and services.

Visit the Food Security topic page to access these resources and learn more about how you can use these resources to create equitable, community-engaged solutions to address disparities in food security.

For additional questions or feedback related to this topic page, please contact Ellisa Alvarez at ealvarez@amchp.org.

AMCHP Information & Resources

2023 Medicaid Renewal Process Update

As of November 21, according to Kaiser Family Foundation Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker, over 10.5 million people have lost their Medicaid coverage due to the national Medicaid redetermination process, which is ongoing through March 2024. The volume of renewals – and the state capacity to manage them – presents a significant risk for coverage loss, particularly in MCH populations.

As AMCHP continues to monitor this issue, we encourage you to visit AMCHP’s Resource Library and filter by “Promoting Coverage for MCH” to find more information, facts sheets, toolkits, webinar recordings, and more, including our new open enrollment consumer fact sheets (available in English and Spanish) to aid in your agency’s outreach efforts as Marketplace plans are an important resource for individuals and families losing Medicaid coverage during the unwinding process.

We also invite you to visit our latest blog post that covers the current landscape of the Medicaid unwinding process, and recommendations for what MCH advocates can do to improve the redetermination process for children and families.

Be sure to also follow AMCHP on social media as we will continue to post timely information, resources, and events on this topic. If you have any questions or want to connect with an AMCHP team member on this topic, please contact Stacy Collins at scollins@amchp.org.

Legislation & Policy

Explore our revamped Maternal & Child Health Bill Tracker for more information about pending federal legislation to improve maternal health. Also, download AMCHP’s 2023 Federal Policy Agenda outlining where we intend to focus our advocacy work.

AMCHP Policy and Partnerships Town Halls

Thank you to those of you who joined us for AMCHP Policy and Partnerships Town Halls. You can find the full recordings of past Town Halls on our Government Affairs webpage.

Town Halls for this year have concluded but check back in January for the updated cadence and registration link.

Opportunities & Funding

AMCHP Career Center: Connecting Talent with Opportunity

AMCHP lists the top jobs available in our industry. Access the AMCHP Career Center to search and apply for open positions or post your jobs and opportunities! Search for Jobs | Post a Job. 

Be a Part of AMCHP’s Replication Projects!

See a practice in AMCHP’s MCH Innovations Database that caught your eye? Interested in building partnerships with other MCH organizations while enhancing your organizational capacity? Consider participating in AMCHP’s Replication Projects for the 2024-2025 project year! Each year, AMCHP offers awards between $15,000-$25,000 for organizations to replicate an Emerging, Promising, or Best Practice from the MCH Innovations Database. You’ll receive peer coaching from a representative of the practice as well as tailored assistance from AMCHP to help you adapt the practice to your unique context and situation. 

The Replication Project offers two levels of support (capacity building or implementation) depending on your organization’s level of readiness to begin replication.   

Capacity Building focuses on growing your organization’s capacity and partnerships to help you prepare to replicate a practice. 
Implementation focuses on helping you plan for and begin adapting a practice to your setting.

Want to learn more about this opportunity?  

Visit our Innovation Hub: Replication Projects webpage and review our Readiness Checklist to get started. 

Questions?  Email us at evidence@amchp.org.  

Publications & Resources

New AMCHP Blog Post! Building Policy Skills for the MCH Workforce: AMCHP’s Evidence Informed Policy Initiative

Policy is one of the 12 Essential Maternal and Child (MCH) Leadership Competencies as designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and yet one-third of state health agency staff members who consider “influencing policy development” as important to their work do not consider themselves to be capable of doing so. Additionally, policy is listed among primary job functions for nearly half of Title V respondents surveyed by AMCHP; however, it was also one of the top three reported training needs in terms of both critical thinking and management skills.

To address these policy workforce needs, AMCHP launched the Evidence-Informed Policy Initiative. This initiative aims to develop tools, resources, and opportunities to support the MCH workforce to develop skills and confidence to engage in the policy process. We are excited to share two key activities of the Evidence-Informed Policy Initiative: expanding the MCH Innovations Database to include evidence-informed policies and publishing the first two modules of our Policy Essential Series. [read more]

More Point-and-Click 2022 NSCH Data Available Now!

Title V National Performance and Outcome Measures (NPMs and NOMs) derived from the 2022 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) have been available on the Data Research Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DRC) website since October. Now hundreds of additional child and family health measures are also available!

Want to do your own analysis with the 2022 NSCH data? In January fully coded data sets and accompanying codebooks will be freely available from the DRC. Be on the lookout for combined 2021-2022 NSCH data in early spring of 2024. Combined data sets allow for better estimates of less common services and conditions.

The NSCH is a national survey, funded and directed by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA MCHB), that provides rich data on multiple, intersecting aspects of children’s health and well-being – including physical and mental health, access to and quality of health care, and the child’s family, neighborhood, school, and social context. Request NSCH datasets in SAS, Stata, and SPSS formats with accompanying codebooks on the DRC website. The DRC is brought to you by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI).

For more information, take a short video tour or contact the CAHMI-DRC team through our Ask Us a Question page. There you will find frequently asked questions (FAQs) and common technical assistance (TA) questions and responses. If you still cannot find what you need, please submit your question through a TA request form. Please note that you will receive a response once you submit your question or request through the webpage for reporting purpose.

CDC Releases Updated Data on Congenital Syphilis in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated data on the state of congenital syphilis in the United States in its new resource “Vital Signs: Missed opportunities for Preventing Congenital Syphilis – United States, 2022”.

Key Findings:

Congenital syphilis cases in the United States increased 755% during 2012–2021.
In 2022, a total of 3,761 cases of congenital syphilis in the United States were reported to CDC, including 231 (6%) stillbirths and 51 (1%) infant deaths.
Lack of timely testing and adequate treatment during pregnancy contributed to 88% of cases of congenital syphilis.
Testing and treatment gaps were present in the majority of cases across all races, ethnicities, and U.S. Census Bureau regions.

Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage for more information on this study’s findings.