Last week Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) announced the introduction of a second House bill to reauthorize the home visiting program.  The HomeVisiting Works Act of  2017 would extend the program for an additional five years and, similar to the goals of the Home Visiting Coalition, it would gradually increase funding to $800 million in year five.  Earlier this summer House Republicans introduced a bill that also extended the program for five years but without increases and with a required state match unlike the current program.

The month of August offers an opportunity to show your support for home visiting.  The Home Visiting Coalition continues to focus on building grassroots support for the Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV).  With the authorization expiring on September 30 and no action yet, the National Home Visiting Coalition has been working to step up action on MIECHV.

Send an e-mail to your member of Congress and senate Expressing your support for home visiting by going to the CWLA ACTION CENTER.

MIECHV still enjoys strong, bipartisan support, on and off the key committees of jurisdiction.  There are concerns with various provisions in the House-introduced bill but the Home Visiting Coalition believes these concerns should not hamper reauthorization efforts broadly.  Coalition resources:

Toolkit:  Use the Toolkit to Engage Congress. Please keep up the action through July and August when members of Congress are back home for the congressional recess.

The National Home Visiting Resource Center, has the 2017 Home Visiting Yearbook presents a portrait of early childhood home visiting across America, expanding our understanding of who receives, administers, and funds home visiting.   Highlights include:

  • More than a quarter of a million families including more than 300,000 children received evidence-based home visiting services in 2015 over the course of more than 2 million home visits.
  • About 18 million pregnant women and families (including more than 23 million children) could benefit from home visiting but are not being reached.
  • States have long supported home visiting, pooling limited resources to serve as many families as they can in a way that makes sense on a local level.

You can also use CWLA resources:  Send an e-mail to your member of Congress and senate Expressing your support for home visiting by going to the CWLA ACTION CENTER.