Healthy Start recognizes the importance of encouraging male involvement in the program. Grantees educated men about the role they can play in fostering positive pregnancy outcomes and in contributing to their children’s health and wellbeing. The overall goal of male involvement services is to enable men to play a positive role in the lives of participants and their children.

Although not a required component of Healthy Start projects, the majority of grantees (61 percent) offered one or more types of male involvement services in 2003. Three grantees reported that these services were under development. The most common services were encouragement of male participation in prenatal and pediatric visits (48 percent); conducting classes on parenting skills (41 percent); and providing counseling and support related to the role of men in family planning (39 percent). Other services, reported by 15 percent of grantees, included fatherhood fairs, Fathers’ Day activities, male involvement consortium activities, depression services, and health education.