It's been a little more than a year since Hello Family—a unique collection of support systems for young children and their families—began operations in Spartanburg, and the capacity-building approach the initiative has brought to early childhood services in our community is already changing lives according to their annual report. The program is a first-of-its-kind approach aimed at significantly improving child wellbeing, boosting future prosperity, and providing quantifiable financial benefits to the Spartanburg community well in excess of its cost and provides free universal nurse home visiting, free evidence-based parent education and support tools, and significantly enhanced early learning opportunities at a full citywide scale
Among the group's first year outcomes, more than 85 percent of mothers served by BirthMatters, a free doula service for young, expectant mothers in the City supported by Hello Family, delivered their babies without a NICU admission, and more than 80 percent had a healthy birth weight and were breastfed at birth. Meanwhile, Family Connects, another program supported by Hello Family, completed 236 nurse home visits to assess needs and offer supportive guidance on infant health-related topics.
Supported by $1.5 million of the City's federal ARPA funding, Hello Family is a broad community partnership with additional support coming from Mary Black Foundation, the Duke Endowment, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation, and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.
Today on the podcast, we discuss Hello Family's first year and future goals with Hello Family Director, Kaitlin Watts.
Want to listen to our podcast on the go? You can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or search "Spartanburg City News" in your favorite podcast app. Theme music provided by Spartanburg singer-songwriter, David Ezell.