Comenzando Bien Project: $12,543, Benton-Franklin Health District:  Half of Benton and Franklin County women aren’t receiving culturally appropriate prenatal educational information. Comenzando bien®, will improve this deficiency. In addition to the eight-part course, nutrition counseling will be available and public health nurses will make home visits to pregnant women living over 50 miles away.

Centering Pregnancy Project: $10,000, Family Planning Association of Chelan/Douglas County:  Providing information and emotional support empowers pregnant women and leads to positive birth outcomes. A series of group meetings for women with similar due dates will provide peer support, prenatal checkups and educational seminars to help improve self-care among pregnant women in Chelan and Douglas counties.

Midwifery Access for Diverse, Low-Income Women: $24,432, Puget Sound Neighborhood Health Centers (PSNHC):  Traditional midwifery services benefit diverse populations of women. With a new fully staffed Midwifery Clinic, PSHNC will serve 80 additional women, raise community awareness of the program and increase the availability of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian and Somali educational materials.

S’Klallam FAS/Birth Defects Prevention: $9,335, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe: Community awareness of preventable birth defects makes a difference in birth outcomes. By developing posters, implementing peer support groups, offering classes and educating newly pregnant women about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, this Kitsap county tribe hopes to reduce the number of children born with preventable birth defects.

Precious Journey Translation Project: $16,893, Sacred Heart Medical Center:  Spokane County has a rapidly increasing population of Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese immigrants. This project will provide clients with improved access to language-specific materials and tracking will help assess the future needs of non-English speaking populations.

Maternal Mental Health Project: $18,590, Providence SoundHome Care & Hospice Maternal Support Services:  Many factors affect the health of a fetus, including physical or sexual abuse of the mother, domestic violence, smoking and drug/alcohol abuse. Applying intervention training and materials from the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Program, Providence SoundHome Care and Hospice will work with over 1,500 mothers to reduce the incidence of prematurity, low birthweight and birth defects.

Training to Support Parents: $4,680, Island Prenatal Care Clinic:  Providers will participate in the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training program, which will help them identify mothers who have additional post-natal needs.

Tu Multi Clinica – Mason County: $22,510 Mason Matters:  Mason County’s growing Spanish-speaking community’s needs are not met by traditional resources. Modeled after Bremerton-Kitsap County’s, El Centro de la Familia, this clinic will aid individuals in navigating local health and social systems, as well as provide preventative health education workshops and one-on-one counseling sessions in Spanish.