A College of William & Mary project that aims to promote healthy behaviors, education, awareness and empowerment for pregnant women and babies has received a grant to further spread its educational resources to incarcerated mothers-to-be in Hampton Roads and Richmond.
Thanks to a $12,000 grant from the March of Dimes — an organization that helps moms have full-term pregnancies and improve the health of their babies — three clubs geared toward providing pregnant mothers with information on how to have a healthy pregnancy will be established in three jails for the first time in Virginia.
The William & Mary Healthy Beginnings Project has used the grant to partner with the ‘Before Baby’ Moms Club of Virginia to offer pregnant inmates at Henrico Jail, Riverside Regional Jail and Hampton Roads Regional Jail a “more inclusive educational curriculum” that covers safe sleep, pre-term births, nutrition, depression, relationships and substance abuse.
“We are thrilled to have the support of the March of Dimes and to offer a more comprehensive curriculum to our participants,” said Danielle Dallaire, principal investigator of the Healthy Beginnings Project, in a news release.
Dallaire said participants will be referred to other BBMCS clubs in Virginia once released from jail so they can continue with the program if they wish.
The Healthy Beginnings Project, composed of a team of undergrad students, a graduate research assistant and two professors, launched in 2012 and works with correctional facilities to provide women with pregnancy tests and prenatal vitamins as well as nutritional counseling, emotional support and more for pregnant inmates.
The project has, since its inception in 2012, helped more than 150 women and resulted in higher birth weights, an increase in nutritional knowledge and a decrease in depression among participants, according to a William & Mary news release.
The Healthy Beginnings Project began with the help of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, who provided a $316,269 grant to fund the project during its first two years. Last year, the project received a no-cost extension, using the funds into 2015.
