POLITICO Covers ASPR Clients

POLITICO, the widely read D.C. outlet, recently wrote about ASPR’ s efforts to help reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. http://politi.co/2ofmlK9

HOME VISITING SUPPORTERS PUSH FOR DOLLARS: Funding for the nation’s federal home visiting program aimed at helping at-risk families expires Sept. 30. The Trump administration’s current budget-cutting climate has program backers nervous, but they say they are hopeful the program that brings education and health support directly into parents’ homes will continue — and maybe even expand. That’s because it has long enjoyed bipartisan support. President George W. Bush’s administration helped jumpstart the program, which dramatically expanded under President Barack Obama. House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady held up the program earlier this year as an example of reforms that “actually work” and said his committee will seek to advance programs like it.

 — One reason the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program is popular with both parties is because of its “evidence-based” component. States choose from 20 different models, which have been proven to help at-risk families. One of the better-known models is called Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters — or HIPPY — that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton frequently lauded on the campaign trail because of her involvement with it in Arkansas. The program helps train parents in their homes how to prepare their children for kindergarten. Some of the other models focus more on areas such as maternal or infant health.

— The program gets $400 million annually, and in 2015 was able to help 145,000 families. The Home Visiting Coalition, a group of organizations supporting the work, this week called on it to be reauthorized for five years with funding building to $800 million annually. President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint did not specify whether the administration supports the program, but program backers such as Diedra Henry-Spires, CEO of the Dalton Daley Group, who helped convene the briefing, said they feel positive about their chances. “We think this program can use a ramp up if anything,” Henry-Spires said.