Nourishing Beginnings is a collaborative community program and research study that investigates the impact of nutritional resources and their effects on expecting parents and their babies during pregnancy and postpartum.
Nourishing Beginning is a countywide program that links Medicaid-eligible pregnant individuals with community health workers who assess and address social needs of their clients, and for those eligible, tests two different models of food access (food delivery and financial assistance with personalized navigation). The central logic is that if pregnant women have reliable, trusted and culturally relevant support that includes tools to build self-efficacy to support health with nutritious foods, as well as support for other social needs during pregnancy, they will experience less stress, have healthier behaviors, and see improved health outcomes for themselves and their child.
The mission of this project is to support pregnant people by connecting them to fresh, nutritious foods, during pregnancy and postpartum.