Groundwork Ohio Announces New Maternal and Young Child Health Transformation Center with Leadership Investment by bi3
COLUMBUS, OHIO: Groundwork Ohio today announced the creation of the innovative Maternal and Young Child Health Transformation Center (MYCHTC) dedicated to transforming systems to better serve Ohio’s pregnant moms and their young children. This “center of excellence” will advance best practices to improve cross systems prenatal-to-five health policy through rigorous stakeholder engagement and advocacy. The MYCHTC will work closely with the recently launched Center for Family Voice at Groundwork Ohio to ensure that lasting relationships with pregnant women, parents and caregivers are fostered to inform policy development and support advocacy.
“Notwithstanding well-intentioned efforts, race, geography, and poverty continue to determine the stark health disparities that persist among pregnant women and young children making it clear that we have to be relentless, innovative and systems-focused to urgently meet the growing needs of our families,” said Shannon Jones, Executive Director of Groundwork Ohio. “The Maternal and Young Child Health Transformation Center will work to unify diverse stakeholders across the state who are dedicated to the unique needs of pregnant women and young children to advance a shared agenda that delivers state policy and systems level change.”
“Maternal and infant health are longterm priorities for bi3, fueling successful initiatives and models in the Greater Cincinnati community with partners including Cradle Cincinnati, Good Samaritan OB-GYN Center, and Every Child Succeeds, among others,” said Jill Miller, president of Bethesda Inc., creator of bi3. “We believe by collaborating with Groundwork Ohio to realize its vision for the Maternal and Young Child Transformation Center, we can answer the need for substantial policy change and systems-focused work to support and sustain community efforts. Through this partnership, we are investing in statewide policy and advocacy infrastructure to improve the lives of our moms and babies.”
Despite increased attention to the persistent gaps that exist in the health and educational outcomes of Ohio’s pregnant women and young children, Ohio is failing to move the dial on any measure. The MYCHTC seeks to unify external stakeholders and state policymakers in the short and long term to prioritize a consensus agenda that urgently responds to and improves maternal and young child health outcomes. The MYCHTC builds upon learnings from Groundwork’s Ready, Set, Soar Ohio coalition-driven initiative focused on the prenatal-to-three period of life as well as it’s landmark Ohio Early Childhood Race and Rural Equity Report in 2018 and its most recent 2020 follow-up report, Drafting a New Blueprint for Success: Reflections on Ohio Early Childhood Race & Rural Equity. The MYCHTC’s work also contemplates the development of a significant public facing data dashboard to track state maternal and young child health access and outcome metrics and to benchmark progress.
“We know that bi3 shares our deep commitment to equity and are grateful for their bold leadership in support of the incredible local work happening in greater Cincinnati and across the state through systems-level policy and advocacy,” added Jones.
About Groundwork Ohio
Groundwork Ohio is a committed, nonpartisan public-policy research and advocacy organization formed in 2004 that champions high-quality early learning and healthy development strategies from the prenatal period to age five, that lay a strong foundation for Ohio kids, families and communities. Learn more about Groundwork Ohio at groundworkohio.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
About bi3
bi3 is Bethesda Inc.’s grantmaking initiative to transform health in Greater Cincinnati. bi3 makes philanthropic investments in TriHealth and community partners to fuel innovative ideas that have the ability to spark and scale new approaches to improve community health in this region and beyond. Since 2010, bi3 has invested nearly $53.5 million in innovative ideas to transform health and healthcare, ranking it as one of Ohio’s largest health-focused funders. To learn more, visit www.bi3.org.