NYC Gazette

Maimonides' Brooklyn Parenting Center has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to enhance maternal health outcomes. This funding aims to increase provider capacity and offer specialized training for onsite care managers at the center. These managers screen patients and families for unmet social care needs such as food insecurity, housing instability, and mental and physical health concerns. They also provide care coordination support, connect families to assistance programs like Medicaid and CHIP, and refer them to the CCB Navigator service, which links patients to over 300 community-based programs.

The grant will also fund essential safety supplies like car seats and cribs for families with infants and toddlers. With this new resource, Maimonides plans to serve 70% of prenatal and pediatric patients and around 60% of postpartum patients, targeting a total of 6,280 individuals in the coming year.

The Brooklyn Parenting Center supports families during pregnancy, shortly after birth, or in early childhood stages (0-2 years). It addresses both clinical and social care needs by connecting families with necessary resources. The center will evaluate its program's efficacy as part of the grant initiative to ensure long-term sustainability.

Maimonides is Brooklyn’s largest healthcare provider, serving vulnerable populations including many underprivileged children under five years old. The center was established to promote health equity by providing comprehensive medical care that integrates physical and socio-emotional health services.

Yonit Lax, MD, Program Director at the Brooklyn Parenting Center said: “Since launching the Brooklyn Parenting Center last year, we have connected with thousands of prenatal and pediatric patients through screenings and referrals... We are thrilled that this funding will allow us to leverage our reach to screen and assist more than double the current number of patients seen through the Center.”

This funding is part of Mother Cabrini Health Foundation’s grants totaling $208 million announced on January 16th. The foundation aims to improve maternal health outcomes across New York State by ensuring high-quality prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum care is accessible for all mothers.

Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo from Mother Cabrini Health Foundation stated: “We are humbled by the wide-ranging impact our grantmaking has made in just six years... These new grants mark a significant milestone in our work.”