Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 28, 2003|Volume 31, Number 20

Bright Beginnings receives grant in support of its work with impoverished young mothers

Yale's Bright Beginnings program has received a $25,000 grant from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to help maintain the program and to replicate its success throughout the Greater New Haven community.

The grant was funded through the Foundation's Anne Hope Bennett and Ruth A. Meier Funds.

Bright Beginnings is sponsored by Friends of the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital in collaboration with Yale-New Haven Hospital's departments of social work and volunteer services and its Women's Center, and the School of Medicine's Ethel F. Donaghue Women's Health Program.

The program uses a unique volunteer-based approach to provide impoverished young mothers with a continuing stream of parenting training and support from the second trimester of pregnancy up to the baby's first birthday. Young mothers are referred to Bright Beginnings by the Women's Center at the hospital.

Bright Beginnings will use the funds to enhance the current program and to develop a manual on how to replicate the program in the community. They will also provide services for between 40 and 50 families within the next year, offer mothers' support groups and "developmental funshops," and produce five newsletters.

"We are grateful for the generous support of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and are excited about the future of Bright Beginnings," said Janet Weiswasser, director of community affairs and program development in the medical school's Department of Pediatrics.

The Bright Beginnings program aims to assist and encourage participants to make timely and appropriate use of the medical system, including prenatal and postpartum care, well-baby visits and the emergency department; develop competent parenting skills and knowledge of child growth and development; and utilize community resources to address other needs.

Volunteers for Bright Beginnings are recruited through community organizations and pre-screened by the hospital's Volunteer Office. They attend eight hours of classes at the Mentor Training Institute on topics such as pregnancy, child safety, home visitation, pediatric care, children's health issues, community resources, working with families and other topics.

In 2002, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven's board of directors distributed over $10 million from 500 different named endowments supporting grants in the areas of health, education and youth, community and economic development, arts and culture and other vital areas.

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