Young Families Connect

Communities Supporting Young Families

North Carolina’s Division of Public Health’s Young Families Connect: Communities Supporting Young Families is funded by the Office of Adolescent Health with the Pregnancy Assistance Fund. This project offers support to pregnant and/or parenting women ages 13-24 years with health maintenance, parenting skills and parental self-sufficiency and is administered through the Women’s Health Branch. For more information about Young Families Connect, please visit youngfamiliesconnect.org.

The goals of Young Families Connect are:

  1. To support community strategies to create effective systems of care
  2. To incorporate evidence-based practices, strategies and models
  3. To improve the health of pregnant and parenting women by providing comprehensive support services that are easy to access and meet their needs.

Five counties were selected for funding and began their projects on April 1, 2011. They are Bladen, Nash, Onslow, Rockingham and Wayne. Each community will:

  1. establish a Community Advisory Council that will guide their project in implementing an action plan,
  2. integrate six identified maternal health best practices,
  3. implement or expand an evidence-based home visitation program,
  4. and create an integrated system of care in their communities.

The six maternal health best practices that will be integrated into this project are: 1) early entry and effective utilization of prenatal care, 2) establishment and utilization of a medical home (for non-pregnant women), 3) reproductive life planning (including access and utilization of family planning services), 4) tobacco cessation counseling using the 5 A’s approach, 5) promotion of healthy weight and 6) domestic violence prevention.

To support this initiative, the March of Dimes/NC Preconception Health Campaign will provide trainings for health care providers in each of the five project counties on the maternal health best practices. They also administer this website as a part of the project, which provides up-to-date information on Young Moms Connect. The North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation will coordinate a social marketing campaign related to the six identified maternal health best practice areas in the five project counties. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro will provide intensive support and ongoing technical assistance for monitoring and evaluation of Young Moms Connect.

Health Care Provider Curriculum, Training and Tool Kit Links

These curricula are intended to be used to train health care providers on the five of the six best practice areas for women of reproductive age. They were developed to train health care providers in Bladen, Nash, Onslow, Rockingham and Wayne counties in both large group training sessions and smaller in office in-services. They are accompanied by a Trainer’s Guide, which includes extensive information about the tools and materials that should be used in conjunction with the slides.

These training materials can be adapted for large trainings and smaller in-office in-services. The key content for both types of training is found on the PowerPoint slides and in the notes section of the slides. The other training methods listed in the “module at a glance” are optional as training time allows.

Reproductive Life Planning (RLP)

Provider Resources

  • Moos, M.K, et. al (2008). Healthier women, healthier reproductive outcomes: Recommendations for the routine care of all women of reproductive age. AJOG, 199(6 Suppl 2):S280-9.
  • Planning for a Healthy Future: Algorithm for Providers Caring for Women of Childbearing Age from the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care. (PDF)

Consumer Materials

  • Becoming a Parent Booklet and Check List from the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care ($3.00)
  • Folic acid educational materials from the March of Dimes North Carolina Preconception Health Campaign and the NC Healthy Start Foundation.

Young Women and Tobacco

Provider Resources

  • Guide to Tobacco Cessation Resources in North Carolina for Health Professionals from QuitlineNC

Healthy Weight Matters

Consumer Materials

  • Healthy Weight Materials from the March of Dimes NC Preconception Health Campaign
  • Kaiser Permanente Food Diary

Circle of Care for Women

Consumer Materials

  • Choices Magazine (English).
  • My Health Journal in English (PDF) and Spanish (PDF).
  • Taking Care of You: Your Postpartum Health and Visit in English and Spanish  from the NC Division of Public Health, Women’s and Children’s Health Section. (PDF)
  • Congratulations, Mom. You have a Beautiful Baby for women who have just had a baby to remind them of the importance of continuing to take folic acid.
  • ¡Felicidades: Información para la mamá nueva! (Congratulations! Information for new moms) for Latina women who have just had a baby to remind them of the importance of continuing to take folic acid. From the March of Dimes NC Preconception Health Campaign.