NYC Health Department Launches $28.4M Home Services Program

NEW YORK CITY — Eleven New York City neighborhoods will be the first to benefit from a $28.4 million program offered by the health department that provides in-house care to parents who are dealing with raising a family for the first time.

The New Family Home Visits program is being offered to areas of the city that are hardest hit socio-economically and will provide services to first-time parents who may need assistance in providing services such as breastfeeding, safe sleep or access to a home nurse or doula, the city announced Tuesday.

Residents in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Bushwick, Central Harlem, Concourse/Highbridge, East Harlem, East Tremont, Hunts Point, Morrisania, Mott Haven and University Heights/Morris Heights will have access to the services first, city officials said.

The city’s remaining qualifying 22 neighborhoods will be added over the next three months, the health department said. The program is entirely voluntary and free to all families regardless of immigration status or income, city officials announced. Families who participate in the program will receive evidence-based services depending on the unique need of that particular household.

"Becoming a new parent can be overwhelming, and many families need help and support to raise healthy and thriving children,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi said in a news release. “The New Family Home Visits program will offer critical support to underserved families and help reduce the persistent inequities in maternal and infant health in our city.”

The program was slated to begin in 2020 but was curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic. Last spring, however, as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 recovery plan, the program was provided with $28.4 million in funding to focus on neighborhoods hit hardest by the pandemic, the city said.

The program will first reach out to neighborhoods that experience a large number of social burdens including overcrowded housing, a prevalence of chronic disease and a number of residents living in poverty. The 33 neighborhoods identified as being the most in need by the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity will be eligible to receive the services. The goal, health department officials said, is to reach more than 7,000 new families by the end of June.

“The New Family Home Visits Program is a win-win for New York City, as it will better connect some of our most vulnerable first-time families to much-needed home-visiting services and support, while promoting healthy childhood development and improving the well-being of our youngest New Yorkers,” David A. Hansell, commissioner of the NYC Administration for Children’s Services, said in a statement.