Early Impact Virginia highlights recipients at Virginia’s premier conference on home visiting
RICHMOND—HumanKind and their Healthy Families Central Virginia home visiting program were honored with the 2019 Expanding Horizons Award by Early Impact Virginia at the state’s premier conference on home visiting on Friday, March 22. The Expanding Horizons Award recognizes the incredible work in communities throughout the Commonwealth to support expectant parents, young children and families through voluntary home visiting programs.
Using a wrap-around approach, Healthy Families Central Virginia strives to strengthen more than 200 families annually in the City of Lynchburg and counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell. They have also developed unique partnerships with multiple prenatal clinics to conduct universal screenings for Healthy Families services. Humankind, through Healthy Families Central Virginia, has developed a trauma-informed approach that focuses on understanding the trauma and developing resilience in the child and family. The program has also partnered with Miriam’s House, a nonprofit serving homeless families in the Lynchburg area, to ensure that vulnerable, homeless pregnant and postpartum women receive comprehensive services.
“It is an honor to serve this community and share this award with our team and with our many partners who work together every day to support families. Our Healthy Families home visiting program helps parents and caregivers connect with services and resources empowering families with the tools they need to thrive. Home visiting is a powerful investment and a proven strategy for strengthening families two generations at a time!”
– Ashley S. Graham, MSW | HumanKind Director of Family and Children’s Services
Virginia Huntington, Assistant Director of Lynchburg Department of Social Services nominated HumanKind for the honor. In her nomination she highlighted Healthy Families Central Virginia’s program for how they “demonstrate innovation in service delivery, provide a continuum of care, has developed or maintains solutions that address specific needs of their community or families served, and meets (their) unique needs.”
The 2019 Expanding Horizons Awards nominees hailed from all areas of the Commonwealth and provide services to a diverse demographic, through numerous programs and services. Laurel Aparicio, Director of Early Impact Virginia, said, “We see incredible home visiting work across the Commonwealth, so we knew that deciding on an honoree would be a difficult challenge. It’s clear that HumanKind has developed strong and diverse partnerships with their Healthy Families Central Virginia program.”
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Early Impact Virginia
Early Impact Virginia is the alliance for family education and support in the home. EIV provides valuable skills to deliver high quality services to improve the health, social and educational outcomes for new and expecting parents, young children and their families in 120 communities across the Commonwealth. To learn more about voluntary home visiting and how it helps Virginia families break the cycles of child abuse, neglect and poverty, visit https://earlyimpactva.org/.
Early Impact Virginia Home Visiting Conference
Currently Early Impact Virginia partners are located in and serve 120 communities. Each year 450 providers, state leaders and industry members come together in Richmond to gain valuable skills and to hear from insightful and inspiring speakers. This year’s theme, Putting the Pieces Together, emphasizes the impact home visitors make when partnering with families across the Commonwealth. This partnership develops through the delivery of high quality services, improves the health, social and educational outcomes for new and expecting parents, young children, and their families.