HRSA Awards $2.9 Million for Family-to-Family Health Information Centers

	U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA NEWS ROOM http://newsroom.hrsa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

CONTACT: HRSA PRESS OFFICE
301-443-3376

HRSA Awards $2.9 Million for Family-to-Family Health Information Centers

The Health Resources and Services Administration has announced 30 grants worth
$2.9 million to support new and continued Family-to-Family Health Information Centers for parents of children and youth with special health care needs. Twenty-four new and six continuing statewide centers will each receive grants of $95,700 beginning June 1, 2007.

“The centers help parents access information about health care, community resources, support services and technical assistance that they can use to make informed decisions regarding their children’s care,” said HRSA Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke.

Family-to-family centers employ parents of children with special health care needs who have experience navigating complex health care and social service systems to help other parents who may be facing similar circumstances.

Data collected from the continuing grantees show that information shared by staff at the centers helps more children with special health care needs keep medical appointments. That results in more family-centered care from providers for these children, which improves their health outcomes. Preliminary data collected from five of the centers over a seven-month period indicates that an estimated 185,000 families and providers received information and materials from the centers in person, by phone, through presentations, Websites, list servs, and/or newsletters.

These grants respond directly to President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative, which seeks to reduce barriers to community living for people with disabilities by addressing families’ lack of access to needed services and assistance.

New grantees are:

Organization	City	State
Raising Special Kids	Phoenix	Ariz.
Support for Families of Children With Disabilities	San Francisco	Calif.
Family Voices of District of Columbia Inc.	Washington	D.C.
Parent To Parent of Georgia Inc.	Atlanta	Ga.
Hawaii Pediatric Association Research & Education Foundation	Honolulu	Hawaii
The Indiana Parent Info Network Inc.	Indianapolis	Ind.
Bayou Land Families Helping Families	Thibodaux	La.
The Parents' Place of Maryland	Glen Burnie	Md.
Federation for Children With Special Needs	Boston	Mass.
University of Southern Mississippi	Hattiesburg	Miss.
PTI Nebraska	Omaha	Neb.
Family TIES of Nevada Inc.	Reno	Nev.
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey	Newark	N.J.
Parents Reaching Out to Help	Albuquerque	N.M.
Parent to Parent of NYS	Tupper Lake	N.Y.
Exceptional Children's Assistance Center	Davidson	N.C.
Family Voices of North Dakota Inc.	Edgeley	N.D.
Oregon Family Support Network	Eugene	Ore.
Parent Education & Advocacy Leadership Center	Pittsburgh	Pa.
Rhode Island Parent Information Network Inc.	Pawtucket	R.I.
South Dakota Parent Connection Inc.	Sioux Falls	S.D.
Texas Parent to Parent	Austin	Texas
Utah Parent Center	Salt Lake City	Utah
Family Voices of Wisconsin	Madison	Wis.

Continuing grantees are:

Organization	City	State
Florida Institute of Family Involvement	Crawfordville	Fla.
The ARC of Illinois	Skokie	Ill.
Maine Parent Federation	Augusta	Maine
PACER Center Inc.	Minneapolis	Minn.
Tennessee Disability Coalition	Nashville	Tenn.
Parent to Parent of Vermont	Williston	Vt.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable. HRSA also is responsible for promoting and improving the health of our nation’s women, children and families. For more information about HRSA and its programs, visit www.hrsa.gov.