Strengthen the Evidence for Maternal and Child Health Programs

This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the Strengthen the Evidence for Maternal and Child Health Programs. The purpose of this program is to increase the effective design, implementation, and monitoring of evidence-based or -informed strategies by Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant programs in order to improve maternal and child health. Specific activities may include, but are not limited to: provision of targeted technical assistance (TA) and supports to all 59 states and jurisdictions1 focused on state-identified MCH priorities; evaluation and revision of evidence analysis reports, as appropriate, and identification of evidence-based or -informed strategies for all Title V National Performance Measures; maintenance and expansion of the MCH Digital Library which provides access to current and historical digital and downloadable resources for all Title V Block Grant and stakeholder communities; and development of brief, timely evidence reviews on high-priority MCH topics to inform policy and programmatic decision-making for local, state, and national MCH partners. The goals of the program are to: • Increase the ability of Title V agencies to effectively design, implement, and monitor evidence-based or -informed strategies to improve MCH. • Increase the number of National Performance Measures (NPMs) showing improvement each year, which, in turn, contribute to improvements of the National Outcome Measures (NOMs). Core objectives to support program goals to be accomplished during the period of performance include: 1. Annually, increase the use of all publically available digital resources by 5% of the previous year’s usage, including the MCH Digital Library, as measured by unique users and page views. 2. Annually, assess and prioritize the need to develop or update evidence analysis reports for all NPMs, including the current 15 NPMs and up to 8 additional new NPMs. As needed and prioritized, update the existing 15 NPM evidence reports annually and develop any new NPM evidence reports by February 2025. 3. Annually, provide expert review of all state-selected evidence-based or -informed strategies and measures, as reported in all 59 Title V state and jurisdiction annual applications. 4. By 2028, provide targeted TA on the effective design, implementation, and monitoring of evidence-based or -informed strategies to all 59 Title V states and jurisdictions. 5. By 2028, develop at least two (2) new resources pertaining to health equity and/or social determinants of health, relevant to the development and implementation of effective strategies and measures. For additional details on the required program requirements and expectations to support the program goals and objectives, see Program Requirements and Expectations.