Blue Ridge Partnership for Children has received an AMY Wellness Foundation grant to expand Healthy Families. Pictured are Tonya and Christopher Franklin. (Submitted)
The Blue Ridge Partnership for Children, or BRPFC, announced in a press release the receipt of an AMY Wellness Foundation grant. BRPFC applied for the funding to expand the home-visitation Healthy Families program into Avery County.
Currently available in Mitchell and Yancey counties, Healthy Families is one of many programs supported by BRPFC that offers quality programming for children age birth to 5. The current Mitchell-Yancey Healthy Families, or MYHF, service is a program of the Toe River Health District, partnering with BRPFC for its program administration. MYHF is the product of an efficiently working collective impact model in its truest form. With the expansion grant, the program is now able to reach all eligible families in the health district and Partnership service area. With the expansion will come a name change for the program. Effective Jan. 1, MYHF will change its name to Blue Ridge Healthy Families.
MYHF is an accredited affiliate member of the National Healthy Families America Program that is sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse America. MYHF has been providing home visiting services since 2012 when the program first came to Mitchell and Yancey counties. The MYHF belief is early, nurturing relationships are the foundation for lifelong healthy development.
“MYHF is designed for families dealing with a diverse set of challenges and with those challenges comes a bevy of questions about how to get this parenting thing right,” said Nickey Stamey, the MYHF Program Director.
MYHF’s well trained home-visitors are trusted sources in their communities, and they help provide answers to those questions. Caring for a new baby, ensuring the baby is receiving the proper nutrition, promoting healthy child development and coping with a myriad of other potential stresses, such as finances and housing are all especially difficult areas to deal with on top of a new family addition. The MYHF home-visitors are specifically equipped to support families during these especially stressful times.
“When parental stress can be managed effectively, children enjoy safer, healthier and more loving experiences,” said Jim Hmurovich, former Prevent Child Abuse America President.
The Blue Ridge Healthy Families program will continue to have an office in Yancey County and will add an office in Avery. Contact information will remain the same. Visit www.myhealthyfamilies.org or call 828-682-5091 for questions and more information.