March of Dimes Inc. HQ

March of Dimes chapters across the country have focused their attention on improving women’s access to preconception, prenatal and interconception education, enhanced prenatal care and risk-reduction services. These programs include:

Supportive Pregnancy Care®, a group prenatal care program to improve care delivery, increase social support and reduce risk of preterm birth.

• Becoming a mom/Comenzando bien, a prenatal curriculum designed for pregnant people in a group setting in English or Spanish.

• Coming of the Blessing encourages Native communities to include traditional beliefs and lessons into their prenatal practices.

• Stork's Nest is a collaboration with Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., to bring prenatal education and group support to low-income pregnant people and offers incentives (such as diapers and infant clothing) for attending prenatal care appointments, prenatal education classes and adopting healthy behaviors during pregnancy.

March of Dimes is a national leader in promoting family-centered care in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) through implementation of its NICU Family Support® program, which began in 2001. The program offers information & comfort to families experiencing the hospitalization of their baby & provides training for NICU staff. It operates in 68 hospitals in the U.S. to serve more than 50,000 families annually. In 2018, March of Dimes released the My NICU Baby App® that provides families with information while in the NICU and during their transition home.
These activities included parent-to-parent support, print & online education for families & innovative programs for parents, siblings and grandparents—all with the purpose of providing comfort, information and critical health care messages to families in crisis. The program provided professional development trainings and resources for neonatologists, nurses & other clinicians to promote implementation of best practices in family Care.

March of Dimes offers a range of educational opportunities for health professionals, some of which offer continuing education credits. Key pieces of our professional education effort include: nursing education; information for professionals on preterm birth and prematurity prevention; genetics education; and medical resources.

We also offer Implicit Bias Training to educate health care professionals on the impact systemic racism has on birth outcomes and maternal mortality and the critical role they play to lessen the effects of bias, particularly for families of color.

March of Dimes is a worldwide leader in the area of preterm birth. No other organization or institution has our track record of working to eliminate preterm birth on so many fronts—through research, education, community programs and advocacy.

We invest in translational and actionable science that turns observations from the laboratory, clinic and communities into interventions, drugs and devices that improve the health of moms and babies. Our research grants support actionable science focused on early stages of pregnancy and neonatal development, preterm birth causes and interventions, and diagnostics and therapeutics for pregnancy and infant health.

At the federal level & in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, March of Dimes staff & volunteers work to influence both legislative & regulatory activities, serving as voices for the needs of moms, babies and families. Key priorities include: access to quality & affordable health care for all women, children & families; research & surveillance impacting the health of moms and infants; prevention and education; and issues important to tax-exempt organizations.

For families everywhere, we advocated on behalf of, against or monitored more than 150 state legislative bills throughout 2020 to improve health equity for all moms and babies and ensure that every family is healthy. A highlight is March of Dimes Georgia celebrating the passage of HB 1114, which extends postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 6 months. About a dozen additional states proposed Medicaid waivers, financial estimates or other initiatives designed to extend coverage during the postpartum period.

March of Dimes continued to support moms, babies and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. They created educational and support resources to prepare women for childbirth and families to care for a newborn during this challenging time. The organization called on government to fund initiatives and adopt policies to protect families and front-line responders. They also brought together world-renowned experts to convene and discuss the most critical strategies to protect moms and babies. As a response to restrictions on gathering and to keep their supporters safe, March of Dimes virtualized their critical mission programs and events.

To address the global pandemic of 2020, March of Dimes established the Mom and Baby COVID-19 Intervention and Support Fund to address the urgent need for research, advocacy, education, resources and support to protect moms, babies and families from COVID-19 and the unknown future effects of the virus. The organization also created the March of Dimes Innovation Fund, a venture philanthropy initiative to accelerate the development of diagnostics and therapeutics that can solve the world’s most pressing maternal and infant health challenges.