Thanks to the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association and the D.W. Perkins Bar Association, our Hey, Mama Mobile Pantry is ready for a variety of community events in the coming weeks. The two organizations recently held a donation drive benefiting the NEFHSC and we are most grateful. Our community health workers will continue meeting with moms, dads and their families across Duval County to provide health and nutrition education as well baby supplies, self-care products, and other items. Be sure to check out our event listing below to locate our bright pink van. Questions about scheduling or donations? Please contact Connect Program Director Beverly Butler at 904.801.3350.
Host site applications now open for NHC Florida
National Health Corps (NHC) Florida, through its partnership with AmeriCorps, provides service opportunities to help meet health care and health education needs in Baker, Duval, Clay and Nassau counties. We’re looking for nonprofit organizations to serve as host sites (see RFP for eligibility requirements), typically from August to July. If your organization believes in fostering healthy communities while developing tomorrow’s compassionate health leaders, don’t miss your opportunity to apply as a host site. Be sure to check out our annual day of service honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. NHC and the City of Jacksonville RSVP members provided backpacks and supplies to students at John E. Ford Elementary School.
NEFHSC awarded dual grants from state for dads
Father First is a groundbreaking statewide initiative, driven by both community and state-level support, dedicated to empowering fathers and enhancing their pivotal roles intheir children’s lives. Our agency secured two, three-year grants, part of the $21.2 million initiative spearheaded by Gov. Ron DeSantis and administered through the Florida Department of Children and Families. At NEFHSC, we actively engage with fathers and father figures, providing essential support to strengthen the father-child relationship. Beyond that, our comprehensive approach extends to assisting men in navigating the complexities of the child support system and the legal process. We collaborate on crucial aspects including employment readiness, conflict resolution, and financial self-efficacy. Discover more about our fatherhood initiatives as we continue to expand and elevate our programs for dads.
Safe sleep efforts get boost from Kids Hope Alliance
A new social marketing effort is underway thanks to support from the Kids Hope Alliance (KHA), a funding agent for the city of Jacksonville. Over the past five years (2018-2022), nearly 16 percent of infant deaths in Duval County were caused by sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs), most of which were sleep-related. Research shows that suffocation and strangulation, often associated with bedsharing, are the contributing factors. NEFHSC recently led safe sleep training with nearly 200 people representing Head Start and educational centers across Jacksonville. We’ll be further expanding our safe sleep training offerings while bolstering our community outreach and advertising efforts to help spread awareness about the ABCs (alone, back, crib) of safe sleep.
The Magnolia Project’s 25-year journey exploring the life course
Since 1999, the Magnolia Project has worked to reduce infant mortality by improving the health of at-risk women before and between pregnancy. This approach was adopted in response to the Perinatal Periods of Risk analyses and findings from the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review that demonstrated the impact of pre- and interconceptional health on poor birth outcomes, particularly for Black mothers.
The Magnolia Project utilizes a life course approach with a strong focus on social equity and the social determinants of health¹. Individual and group interventions are used to address risks and build the reproductive health capital of the community served by the project. According to Lu et al. (2010), the life course perspective conceptualizes birth outcomes as the end product of not only the nine months of pregnancy but the entire life course of the mother before pregnancy. As a result, disparities in birth outcomes are the consequences of both differential exposures during pregnancy and differential developmental trajectories across the life span, including adolescence. As a major component of the life course, the Magnolia Project and other NEFHSC programs focus on the effects of stress, particularly what’s known as toxic stress. This body of work has been occurring for 25 years and it’s encouraging to see other groups now engaging in this important work.