Area Deprivation Index (ADI)

Percent of Minnesotan communities that have a high ADI.

1. Amplify resources, services, and supports that are responsive to community needs and support the health and wellbeing for all.
2. Strengthen the capacity of public health professionals and community leaders to effectively address community health drivers, such as housing and early childhood systems of care, using a public health lens.
3. Vitalize Title V activities to address community health factors to improve maternal and child health outcomes and access to care across the life course.
4. Ensure data produced and reported through Title V highlight maternal and child health outcomes, explore root causes, discuss their impact, and provide recommendations for improving health across MCH populations.

STATE TITLE V

Supported

• Collect and Analyze Data to Better Understand Experiences of Families of CSHCN Through the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) Oversampling

While national data on CSHCN can help identify differences and gaps in access to services and supports for certain subgroups of CSHCN, it is difficult to report on important differences due to data limitations at the state level. The NSCH is a primary data source for CSHCN; however, Minnesota is unable to conduct sub-analyses at the state level due to small sample sizes. However, Minnesota has contracted with the Census Bureau to increase the sample size of children in the state whose parents/caregivers complete the NSCH. Our hope with this oversampling is that we will better be able to conduct subgroup analyses on measures impacting CSHCN in FFY2026 and beyond. Additionally, Minnesota plans to conduct analyses on the health and wellbeing of CSHCN using the five-year estimates of the NSCH (2016 – 2020) that were recently posted in the Data Resource Center. We will compile and publish a report on these findings and will share this across MDH, other state agencies, and community-based organizations. In this report, we will work to visualize the data in ways that are friendly to the public whenever possible using dashboards of summary and de-identified data available for viewing.

• Coordinate between Title V and FHV initiatives to Serve More Families through FHV

A major activity aimed at helping promote a comprehensive system that supports families is family home visiting (FHV). FHV helps ensure pregnant women receive adequate prenatal care, learn about healthy development in utero, in infancy, and beyond, and promotes responsive relationships. Then, as children and families develop, FHV helps ensure families with young children receive individualized social, emotional, health-related, and parenting supports, and relate connect to community resources that help stabilize and empower families.

A goal of this five-year block grant cycle is to better coordinate between the MDH Title V and FHV initiatives to ensure we are reaching more families with home visiting services. This goal directly aligns with the goals of Minnesota’s MIECHV program grant. We have already begun to strengthen this partnership through the work we have done to combine and coordinate our Title V and MIECHV needs assessments and through the involvement of FHV leadership and staff in our strategy development work. Moving forward into FFY2026, we plan to continue work around the following activities:   

• Understanding home visiting services provided via Title V funding. Based on their annual work plans and reporting, we know that LPH agencies use Title V funding to support a portion of home visiting services. However, we would like to develop a more formal understanding of the number of families served and types of visits provided and will partner with the FHV Section to explore this further. MDH-FHV staff will conduct subrecipient monitoring activities including fiscal monitoring, site visits, and regularly scheduled opportunities for communication and technical assistance. Title V and FHV staff will work internally to improve relationships and better understand Local Public Health's implementation of FHV by braiding a variety of funding sources (MIECHV, TANF, Title V, state funding). Our goal is to provide improved guidance and recommendations to Local Public Health agencies for the optimal use of these funding streams. 
• Improving coordination of services for medically underserved communities. We intend to participate in interagency and cross-divisional conversations to provide consultation to and collaboration with early childhood system stakeholders.
• Assessing whether we are reaching medically underserved families who would benefit the most from home visiting services. Through our interagency and cross-divisional work, we will build the partnerships needed to better ensure we are reaching the most families possible. This means ensuring that FHV is available in all regions of the state, and that programs are enrolling appropriate numbers of families. MDH-FHV and Title V staff will also implement enhancements to the grant management process that seeks input from counties, tribes, and non-profits. Providing data reports to monitor fidelity, progress towards meeting MIECHV and Title V benchmarks, and identifying areas for technical assistance and CQI will continue to be a strong focus.

• Develop and Implement Data-informed Strategies to Prevent Pregnancy-Related Deaths

In 2024, the MCH section within the Child and Family Health Division at MDH responded to a NOFO and successfully received funding from the CDC National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for “Enhancing Review and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality”. This funding supports Minnesota’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) within MDH to identify and characterize pregnancy-related deaths for prevention by identifying pregnancy-associated deaths; conducting vital records quality assurance; abstracting clinical/non-clinical data into a standard data system (Maternal Mortality Review Information Application, ‘MMRIA’); conducting informant interviews to inform individual case review; conducting multidisciplinary case reviews by committees; and entering committee decisions into MMRIA.

MDH’s goal will meet criteria to accomplish short term and intermediate goals for this funding request beginning in FFY2026:

• Increased timeliness, accuracy, and standardization of information available about pregnancy-related deaths, including MMRC identified opportunities for prevention. 
• Increased engagement and cooperation between MMRCs, partners, and communities to communicate information from data on pregnancy-related deaths.
• Increased availability of MMRC recommendations among communities, clinicians, public health practitioners, and decision makers.
• Increased adoption of clinical and non-clinical policies and programs that reflect the highest standards of care.
• Increased implementation of recommendations that reach or consider the needs of populations affected by pregnancy-related mortality.

• Develop an Internal CFH Division Mental Health Workplan

In FFY2023, an internal workgroup was formed with an aim to build capacity for staff engaging in the mental health work we do as a Division with Minnesota’s communities and families, through the development of a Division Mental Health Workplan. The purpose of the workplan is to provide a framework for staff engaging in mental health work when applying to funding opportunities, engaging with communities, and developing partnerships, including other MDH Divisions and state agencies. The workgroup developed an initial plan for the division in FFY2024.

In FFY2026 MDH will continue to review the plan and reconcile it with available state and federal funding, including legislative proposals. MDH will continue to identify opportunities to align efforts within and across divisions.

• Increase Access to Family Planning Services

MDH will continue to oversee the Sexual and Reproductive Health Services (SRHS) grants program which provides low-income, high-risk people pre-pregnancy family planning services and fact-based sexual health information. During this time, staff will support a total of 35 grantees funded through 2027, including those funded through the additional $6.353 million SRHS funding expansion from the Minnesota 2023 legislative session. Additionally, MDH will continue to strengthen their connection and work to streamline referrals with the Minnesota Family Planning Program (MFPP) administered by Minnesota Department of Human Services. This health care program covers family planning services, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and transportation services to and from health care providers for these services.

• Promote Policy, System, and Practice Changes to Support Children of Incarcerated Parents

An estimated 16% of youth in Minnesota have an incarcerated or previously incarcerated parent, making parental incarceration the second most frequently reported ACE for this population (MSS, 2022). Youth with an incarcerated parent have increased risk of poor mental health and illness, substance use, and poor academic outcomes. During FFY2026, Minnesota will continue to grow the Model Jail Practices Learning Community, through a federal Department of Justice grant and the state legislature, to promote policy, system, and practice changes that support children of incarcerated parents.  The initiative will connect with at least fifteen counties in Minnesota through a range of activities including:

• Bi-monthly training for jails on model practices  

• Quarterly learning community meetings to facilitate quality improvements and share relevant resources.   
• MDH will also continue to identify policy issues related to the systems that could work in tandem with jails to better support justice involved children and families, such as child-welfare, schools, and family home visiting. This will include training for these systems and opportunities to build connections with partnering jails.   
• Coordinate training in evidence parenting programming for jail and community partners.
• Additionally, Minnesota will continue to work on expanding these efforts to other county jails and continue to support Family Home Visiting (FHV) and other community program investments in justice involved families.

• Provide Training on Postpartum Depression Screening for Health Care Providers

Postpartum depression screening for any accompanying caregiver is a recommended component in all Child and Teen Checkups (C&TC) well-child visits in children up to 13 months of age. The MDH C&TC Program C&TC will continue to provide training to medical providers who perform C&TC visits on best practices in conducting postpartum depression screening. The training is also available for Head Start staff, local public health C&TC staff, and university-based post baccalaureate advanced practice nurse (nurse practitioner) training programs.

Connected

• Build Support for Expanding Community-Based Program Models Statewide 

The Mental wellbeing and Resilience Learning Community (MWRLC) has highlighted many examples of community-based mental wellbeing strategies in Minnesota each month since 2017. Though several programs have garnered significant community interest, local leaders have identified a need for additional training and financial support to make these available and sustainable. With increased awareness of the models among key leaders, we can better identify opportunities to incorporate these into existing grants or programs.   

In FFY2026, MDH will do the following:   

• Continue to host the MWRLC highlighting a range of wellbeing strategies across communities in Minnesota.  
• Identify opportunities to actively support and connect those interested in advancing or scaling one of the identified strategies.
• Continue to elevate initiatives that promote connection to nature. Including, opportunities to connect certified forest therapy guides, and will work with the learning community to support and promote the community resources that flow from this new community capacity, as well as promote the opportunity for other communities to build similar strategies.
• Continue to look for funding to support the highlighted initiatives.    
• Convene stakeholders to identify steps to build infrastructure and support for community led care. For example, defining the minimum expectations for referring community members to higher levels of care when needed, and strategies to sustain this type of community programming.

• Champion Minnesota’s Integrated Care for Early Childhood Initiative (MN-ICECI)

Minnesota’s Title V program will continue to work closely with the MN-ICECI, which is funded by an Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems: Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program grant from HRSA. During FFY2026 the MN-ICECI work will center around building a Family Ambassador Corps and exploring options for project sustainability beyond the federal grant period.  

The MN-ICECI prioritizes early identification of social, emotional, and developmental needs in young children to connect them with essential resources. To achieve this, families must play a central role in driving system changes. Meaningful engagement of family and community leaders is essential for the success of MN-ICECI. Thus, MN-ICECI focuses on building agency of parents, families, and community members to advocate for their children and communities. Empowering parents as leaders’ benefits families, improves outcomes, and enhances system effectiveness by ensuring comprehensive and family-centric decisions. 

The Family Ambassador Corps is a cross-cutting strategy of the MN-ICECI. Family Ambassadors are individuals with experience in navigating the early childhood system; they build upon their knowledge and skills to take on meaningful leadership roles within programs, agencies, and communities. They serve as a “parent voice” to help shape the direction of services for themselves and other families.   

This Corps serves two main purposes:  

1. Improving Awareness and Connection to Resources: Ambassadors leverage peer-to-peer outreach, educational initiatives, and ongoing support networks to empower parents, caregivers, and families of young children. By serving as trusted community liaisons, Ambassadors bridge gaps and facilitate access to vital resources and services.  
2. Driving Systems Transformation: Drawing on their experience, Ambassadors play a pivotal role in advocating for systemic change within early childhood health systems. By centering parent voices in compelling storytelling efforts, Ambassadors serve as catalysts for shifting mindsets, advancing priorities, and promoting best practices across the health care landscape. 

• CHStrong Data Collection

In September 2023, MDH was awarded a grant to conduct population-based surveillance of outcomes, needs, and wellbeing of children and adolescents with congenital heart defects (CHDs), CHSTRONG KIDS. The grant enables MDH to survey a population-based sample of parents or caregivers of children with CHDs to learn about the social and educational outcomes, healthcare utilization, barriers, and quality of life of children with a CHD, as well as the needs and experiences of the caregivers. Much of 2024 was spent recruiting families to participate in this survey and ensuring representation from Minnesota communities. In FFY26, the MN CHSTRONG KIDS team will begin to analyze the responses from Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Georgia.  

• Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act

The Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act addresses differences in maternal health care and includes a requirement for hospitals with obstetric care and birth centers to develop or access a continuing education curriculum and must make available a continuing education training.

Additionally, the Dignity and Pregnancy Act calls on the state to increase the availability of, and access to, doula and midwifery services by removing barriers to communities disproportionately affected by maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. To help improve pregnancy and postpartum outcomes, MDH hired a Maternal Care Access Coordinator to develop a strategic plan and to develop and implement policies, activities, and programs, with community input, aimed at expanding access to prenatal care, doula, and midwifery services by working with internal and external partners and stakeholders. The work of the Maternal Care Access Coordinator will continue to inform cross-sector collaborations with internal and external stakeholders working to advance policies and systems changes to remove barriers to access for doula and midwife services such as trainings, certification, and reimbursement.

• Expand and improve the Minnesota Maternal Mortality Review Project (MMRP)

The goal of the MMMRP is to improve the health outcomes of pregnant women through maternal mortality and morbidity reviews. The MMMRP houses the Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC), which reviews maternal death cases and develops recommendations to prevent future deaths.  

The MMMRP activities for FFY2026 include the following:  

• Analyze multi-year data and provide demographics, geographic burden, distribution of death, and cause of death, to inform change of practice or policies.
• Review all pregnancy- associated maternal deaths within 18 months of date of death, and document findings and decisions in the Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA) to assist with ongoing analysis.  
• Expand community members and/or those with personal experience on the MMRC.
• Disseminate committee findings, analysis, and recommendations to internal and external stakeholders annually.
• Develop and disseminate a report on 5 years of maternal mortality reviews including recommendations to (internal and external) stakeholders.
• Develop targeted reports on leading causes of death in Minnesota for specific stakeholder groups including providers and policy makers.
• Track the implementation of MMRC recommendations at multiple levels.
• Collaborate with partners to strategically develop statewide actionable interventions to reduce contributing factors identified by the case reviews.
• Promote recommendations from our community action team (perinatal subcommittee) to identify strategies and resources needed for the community to implement recommendations and mitigate barriers to improved pregnancy outcomes.
• Train, and cross-train, internal staff on data management and system processes to improve timely access to case information, abstraction, and data entry.
• Invest in community driven interventions to address maternal mortality and build upon communities working in culturally tailored approaches in maternal health.
• Improve case identification and completion of record collection in partnership with Department of Human Services, other divisions within MDH, the Minnesota Hospital Association, State Medical Examiners, and Law Enforcement entities.
• Develop feasible processes and systems to collect and analyze maternal morbidity data to identify leading causes of morbidity in the state.
• Tailor quality improvement interventions, in conjunction with the MNPQC, to target and address maternal mortality and morbidity.
• Implement an informant interview protocol through a contract with external partners – which reflects a recommendation from the CDC for MMRC partners to use informant interviews for comprehensive case reviews.  (Qualitative data gathered from the interviews are used to supplement medical records and other records abstracted for MMRC to review).
• Expand the Hear her campaign.

Additionally, maternal morbidity reviews are set to occur in FFY2026. 

In FFY2026, staff will work with MNPQC members, community partners, and clinic systems to develop protocols and processes for a maternal morbidity review team. Maternal morbidities are considered “near miss” incidents related to pregnancy or childbirth that did not result in death. The protocols and processes will assist implementing case reviews to expand identification of opportunities to improve care as well as requesting records from newly acquired data sources for case narratives.

• Expand Understanding of Key Research and Current Strategies to Support Social connectedness and Other Factors that Influence Mental Wellbeing

During FFY2026, MDH staff will continue to develop and promote content on social connectedness and other selected strategies to promote mental wellbeing, highlighting research, data sources, key talking points, and examples of community strategies to address the issue. These resources will be shared broadly and use examples of strategies highlighted in the MN Thrives database and the Mental Wellbeing and Resilience Learning Community. We will partner with internal and external stakeholders to share these resources and to identify policy and environmental changes that promote social connectedness.

MDH will leverage national resources, including those from the Surgeon General 5 for 5 Connection Challenge to promote social connectedness through the May Mental Health month toolkit, online, and at public events where MDH hosts a table.

Title V staff will continue to co-chair the Suicide Prevention Taskforce’s Committee on Mental Health and Wellbeing. This committee will help oversee the raising awareness of recommendations and resources across the state to promote mental health and wellbeing across the life span in Minnesota’s communities, including attention to social connectedness  

• Improve Data Available on Minnesotans with Disabilities

Title V CSHCN Staff are co-leading the development of the MDH Disability Data Dashboard. The Disability Data Dashboard Project is a MDH multi-department collaboration that aims to create a publicly accessible data dashboard that communicates disability related demographics, outcomes, and trends for Minnesotans with disabilities. The data dashboard, in alignment with the Minnesota Olmstead Plan, will inform the work of MDH by better measuring and reporting on health outcomes of persons with disabilities and set benchmarks to improve the health and wellness of people with disabilities. Further, the dashboard will serve as a high-quality source of information for academic, health systems, community-based organizations (CBOs) and self-advocates to leverage data in advocacy work, targeted public health interventions, programming, and grant writing materials.   

In 2026, Title V staff will continue with other Divisions in MDH to lead an ongoing data workgroup to address gaps in data available related to persons with disabilities, including CSHCN. Specifically, the workgroup aims to:

• Identify current data sources and existing baseline data.
• Collaborate to improve data partnerships focused on persons with disabilities with other state agencies such as the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota Department of Human Services, and Minnesota Department of Education.
• Develop a workgroup focused on the creation of a disability data dashboard.

• Identify Barriers to Family Navigation through the NBS Propel Data Collection

In July 2023, MDH was awarded the State Newborn Screening System Priorities Program (NBS Propel) grant from HRSA. As part of this grant, MDH will be conducting community engagement with families of children who were diagnosed with cCMV through newborn screening (NBS) to learn about their experience with the NBS system. Engagement will also take place with providers and other partners to identify systems-level facilitators and barriers to family navigation of the NBS system. A generalized engagement and systemic experience assessment tools will be developed for use when implementing any NBS condition. 

• Increase Access to Safe and Affordable Housing for Clients who are Pregnant or Parenting Infants

Family home visitors are a resource for routinely screening for clients and families who are experiencing homelessness. Family home visitors at the state and community levels will continue to provide referral and support services to community resources to help find stable housing for families who were pregnant or parenting infants and/or young children. 

• Participate in the Sickle Cell Data Collection Program

MDH staff will continue to participate in the 2023-2028 Sickle Cell Data Collection (SCDC) program grant funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The purpose of the SCDC is to support the infrastructure for a surveillance system that collects data to inform healthcare practice and policies related to sickle cell disease (SCD), gain a better understanding of the healthcare and health outcomes of all individuals with SCD, regardless of age, insurance, disease severity, or location of health care, and to disseminate data that help inform policy and healthcare standards that improve and extend the lives of people with SCD.  

• Partner to Implement the Minnesota Partnership to Prevent Infant Mortality Grants

The Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Families program was codified into the Minnesota state legislature in 2023. The goals of this funding are to convene, coordinate, and implement data-driven strategies, and community relevant activities to improve infant health by reducing preterm birth, sleep-related infant deaths, and congenital malformations, and address community health factors. Minnesota and grantees acknowledge that community health factors play a large role in infant health outcomes. Through the infant health grants offered by this program, MDH will continue to support community-led safe sleep education and support, with an aim to reduce infant mortality by decreasing the incidence of sleep-related tragedies among infants through use of community-specific and community-based best practices that address community health drivers.

MDH will promote safe sleep messaging statewide and collaborate with our community partners and the Minnesota Partnership to Prevent Infant Mortality grantees to expand community-based infant mortality prevention and locally specific resources for populations at greatest risk of experiencing an infant death.

• Partner to Implement Requirement for Birthing Facilities to Provide Training to Staff 

MDH staff will work to provide ongoing implementation support to birthing facilities required, through the Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act, to provide staff with annual training beginning in January 2023. With our partners at the University of Minnesota, MDH looks forward to supporting health systems, birthing hospitals, and clinics to ensure that training is provided. The first two modules launched in December 2022 and April 2023. 

MDH staff will support ongoing implementation by hosting accessible, no cost training modules, designed in partnership with the University of Minnesota. MDH will continue promoting this resource widely on our website as well as through partner networks to ensure it is widely known and utilized. Additionally, MDH will continue to review all submissions for alternative curriculum submitted by organizations to verify if they meet the requirements of the Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act.

• Partner with Key Stakeholders to Develop Shared Objectives and Maintain the Minnesota Community Resilience Learning Cohort 

An overarching goal for mental health promotion efforts in Minnesota is to advance a public health approach to mental health, especially a policy approach. For communities to invest in population level mental health promotion, they must embrace a broader definition of mental health that includes everyone, that recognizes that we all have mental health.  Understanding the range of individual, family and community factors that can promote mental wellbeing, especially the impact of policies on our collective mental wellbeing can also support investment in a public health approach to mental health.  Finally, communities often need to know what resources they already have, before finalizing priority action steps. Title V staff aim to support this through engagement in the following activities in FFY2026:   

• Partner with a local community youth organization to work in community with youth and families to identify local policy changes that will impact youth mental health.   
• Evaluate and communicate about the community process implemented for the RBYMH grant and explore opportunities to scale this model to other communities. 
• Continue to engage state and community leaders to discuss community level protective factors and policies that promote mental health.
• Continue to partner with Leverage existing partnerships between the U of M Extension (UMN)), additional MDH sections and programs (Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP), Injury and Violence Prevention (IVPS), Suicide Prevention, and Public Health Practice), and Local Public Health to design and test tools that could help communities process or prioritize them to decide what actions are needed to promote mental wellbeing health promotion strategies.
• Partner with other MDH community data initiatives to align efforts where feasible, especially those working on quantitative assessment processes (e.g., community health improvement planning). Partners, with support from Title V staff, will assess current systems and community-based strategies for mental health promotion and primary prevention and identify interest and opportunity for new strategies to be utilized.
• Partner with the UMN Extension and Center of Excellence in Public Health to finalize the literature review for the societal level of the expand the mental health socio-ecological model and develop a summary to help in efforts to help guide community leaders prioritize or elevate the strategies identified through the literature review and conduct community planning around mental health and wellbeing.  

• Partner with Minnesota Perinatal Collaborative (MNPQC) to Provide Technical Assistance using AIM Data

MNPQC maintains the data infrastructure for hospitals to submit AIM metrics to align with the SUD bundle. MNPQC uses the quality improvement platform, SimpleQI. This tool allows each hospital team access to input health system measures, baseline/monthly data reports, and run charts. MNPQC uses the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Model for Improvement called the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle. The PDSA process supports teams to timely assess applied interventions within their health systems. Teams are provided data and reporting tools, and data benchmarking and analysis. The intent is hospitals would submit AIM data metrics via SimpleQI that then allows MNPQC to export data to submit into the AIM data portal. However, through ongoing technical assistance via AIM, the MNPQC is navigating the best plan forward to streamline data entry across platforms to minimize burden on hospitals to enter data across multiple data platforms. To further streamline data collection across shared partners, MNPQC has been in discussion with the Minnesota Hospital Association to consider incorporating the process and structural measures from this project into MHA’s established data collection process. With this infrastructure for data collection, future initiatives on perinatal outcomes related to SUD will be more feasible and sustainable.

MNPQC will continue to provide technical assistance with participating teams through monthly resource sharing and email connections to sustain progress.

• Provide Training and Support the Implementation of Best Practices Amongst Public Health Professionals and Family Home Visitors

The main activity aimed at building capacity of public health professionals is providing training and supporting the implementation of best practices. By building capacity, we mean that we not only plan to provide trainings to LPH agencies but also will provide the needed technical assistance and other support to help ensure they are implementing the best practices using a continuous quality improvement approach. We will focus on the following topic areas: trauma-informed care, Reflective Practice, intimate partner violence, depression, opioid drug use, and ACEs. 

MDH FHV will continue to host and sponsor MECSH Foundation Training four times per year, Refresher Training two times per year, and Stop-Gap Training as needed for new MECSH home visitors that have a need to begin enrolling families into the program before they can attend the next available in-person Foundation Training. Additionally, virtual training on the PICCOLO parent-child interaction tool was offered to family home visitors across Minnesota beginning in 2025.

 ​​LOCAL TITLE V

Supported

• Expanding Workforce Capacity to Meet a Variety of Needs

Local public health in Minnesota is increasing staff capacity to meet a variety of needs from community members through various pathways, including:

• Employing community liaisons to aid in connecting individuals and families to resources within home communities or navigating referrals to services outside of their home community when needed.
• Hiring or contracting for staff and services that provide for translation of program materials, as well as community engagement and recruitment messaging. Some local public health agencies also contract out with translation and interpretation services for conducting home visiting with families.
• Recruiting staff to focus on navigation of services that address community health drivers such as transportation, scheduling appointments, dental services, special healthcare services, housing, and more.
• Recruiting staff from the communities served by the local public health agency to increase representation of communities in provision of services.
• Accessing professional development and trainings that offer a variety of knowledge and skills to responsively address the various needs of community members based on individual and family preferences and needs.

Local public health agencies will continue this work in FFY2026.

Connected

• Data Infrastructure and Alignment

Local public health continues to rapidly expand in the area of data infrastructure and alignment. With the recognition that data is vital to success, local pubic health agencies will continue to work to:

• Make sure their data collected and gathered is accurate, can be disaggregated, and can be refreshed or looked at with regularity.
• Try to align performance measures to be able to look across an area at impacts and who is being served, particularly looking for gaps or overlaps in services, including: Once we have who isn't being served, who is not staying enrolled for full services, and what barriers are being repeatedly identified in data to change practice.
• Get feedback from families via surveys about their programs and services, like home visiting, and they can improve to better to meet families’ needs.

Title V Resources and Support Hub

Number of resources provided to Title V grantees and state staff through the Minnesota Title V Resources and Support Hub to support with system thinking, data driven decisions making, and community engagement.

1. Amplify community responsive resources, services, and supports to address systems and policies to support the health and wellbeing of MCH populations.
2. Develop and mobilize strong interagency, multisector, and community partnerships to respond to uneven trends in maternal and infant deaths through targeted interventions.
3. Build workforce and partner capacity to promote systems and policies that optimally serve all MCH populations in Minnesota.
4. Engage partners and interest holders to promote family engagement and partnership across all sectors.

STATE TITLE V

Supported

• Community and Family Engagement Peer-Sharing Through Annual Reporting

Beginning FFY2024, the Minnesota Title V program requires all grantees to include information about their community and family engagement activities in both their annual work plans for the upcoming year and annual reporting for the previous year. This information is then de-identified and shared out to all grantees as examples of ways to conduct community and family engagement. Grantees may reach out to the Minnesota Title V team for contact information of a specific community and family engagement effort, at the permission of the grantee.

• Improve Data-Sharing between MDH and Partners

Minnesota has strict data privacy laws, which sometimes impede sharing infant health and mortality data among divisions within a state agency, with other state agencies, and with the public. Of particular concern is not being able to share infant mortality data when there are fewer than twenty infant deaths in a population even when such data are needed for policy and programmatic purposes. In FFY2026 MDH plans to:  

• Collaborate with the Minnesota DHS – Minnesota’s Medicaid Agency – to exchange pregnancy related vital records and/or other state programs to explore opportunities to improve pregnancy outcomes.   
• Work with the Minnesota WIC program to use vital records data and WIC data to evaluate pregnancy outcomes and services.
• Continue efforts with the SDY Case Registry to share SUID data as part of the community engagement component of our CDC SUID grant with all birthing hospitals around the state, community partners and stakeholders, including during our CDC SUID prevention project kickoff meeting, in our safe sleep action plan to be created and disseminated in FFY2025, and to help improve training and infant safe sleep practices in communities. 
• Seize opportunities to share or present data on infant health and mortality, including on social media, at conferences, meetings, and summits. 

• Participate on the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet

Governor Walz is committed to a vision that everyone in our state has an opportunity to thrive. The governor instituted a plan to build One Minnesota, where state agencies collaborate to create a state that works for everyone. Under One Minnesota, the Children’s Cabinet was charged with implementing the One Minnesota priorities related to children and families (Refer to Overview of the State for more information). Children’s Cabinet activities contribute to the existing goals of ending preventable maternal and infant deaths in Minnesota.

Title V staff will remain engaged in the following activities related to One Minnesota and the Children’s Cabinet:  

• Participate on external work groups to listen to community concerns and member identified needs to inform strategies; and as subject matter experts providing technical assistance and education on best practices to reduce preventable infant and maternal deaths and improve pregnancy outcomes.
• Work with local community leaders, schools, institutes of higher education, and community-based agencies to increase workforce among birth workers and increase employment opportunity in the health sector.
• Work with family home visitors, community partner organizations, health systems, and policy makers to support fourth trimester care to include assessing and addressing postpartum visits and increasing the utilization of Medicaid’s expanded postpartum coverage up to 12 months.
• Implement a comprehensive cross-sector plan to prioritize initiatives to ensure a healthy beginning for all children.
• Continue to participate in the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Mental Health Action Team to share a public health perspective and cultivate promotion and prevention opportunities, including support for potential legislative proposals.

• Participate on the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness (MICH) and the Crossroads to Justice Strategic Plan Implementation

The MICH is comprised of 14 state agencies, the Met Council, and the Governor’s Office, and is charged with leading MN’s efforts to achieve housing stability for people experiencing homelessness in MN. MDH is one of the 14 agencies participating on the MICH, including representation by an Assistant Commissioner of MDH. MICH developed Heading Home Together, an action plan to prevent and end homelessness, identifying what state agencies can do and is reflective of the input of people who have experienced homelessness, practitioners who work in the field, and Federal policy requirements and guidance. The focus of the Council is to prevent and end homelessness among youth and young adults unaccompanied by parents or guardians, as well as prevent and end homelessness among families with children. Title V staff will continue to participate in the MICH activities in FFY2026.

• Partner to Implement the ​Preschool Development Grant

Minnesota’s Preschool Development Birth through Five grant is a partnership of the Minnesota Departments of Education, Health, Human Services, and Children, Youth, and Families, along with the Children’s Cabinet to align education and care systems across the state. The grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services supports pregnant families and families with children age 5 and younger. Minnesota was awarded a Preschool Development Grant Birth-Five Renewal Grant for 2024-2027. The Minnesota Title V team works closely with the Preschool Development Grant team, especially the Preschool Development Grant Coordinator housed in MDH’s Child and Family Health Division.

Grant activities are determined through an in-depth needs assessment and strategic planning process – which last took place in 2023-2024. CFH staff will continue to support the following activities in FFY2026:

• Implementation of the Help Me Connect Online Navigation System
• Implementation of the MN StoryCollective storytelling project that works with community partners to collect stories.
• Implementation Community Solutions for Healthy Child Development Grants to fund community solutions to improve the wellbeing of children from prenatal to grade three and their families.
• Implementation of Community Resource Hubs/Centers – community based coordinated points of entry that provide community responsive, relationship-based service navigation and other supportive services for expecting and parenting families and youth.

• Promote the Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) Framework Across the State

Minnesota partners with the National CoP for Supporting Families on implementing facets of the CtLC framework into our work with people with disabilities and their families, caregivers, and support persons. CFH staff will continue participating on a leadership team comprised of representatives from the Minnesota departments of human services, education, and employment and economic development to help lead this Community of Practice. This team has created a network of MN partners engaged in supporting families across the lifespan using the CtLC framework.  

The network, MN-Connect, will provide a platform for this growing community of innovators and early adopters to network with and support one another for continued learning and ongoing application. Technical assistance will be provided by assigned staff from the National CoP for Supporting Families as this initiative continues to develop.

The vision has been defined: To help all MN children and youth (Birth – age 22) with disabilities plan for and achieve their best life. Goals are to:

• Increase the number of families and professionals formally trained in CtLC.
• Improve access to CtLC resources for families and professionals.
• Promote increased utilization of CtLC in a variety of child and youth support setting.   

Three work groups are working to define and develop strategies and measures to grow this work in FFY2026 and beyond.

• Strengthen Access to Developmental and Social-Emotional Screening and Follow-up through the Follow Along Program (FAP) 

As we move into FFY2026, Minnesota will continue to strengthen access to developmental and social-emotional screening and follow-up through the FAP. The FAP is administered by MDH in partnership with LPH agencies and provides regular caregiver-completed screening opportunities for families with young children, along with follow-up support and developmental activities.

During FFY2026, MDH will continue to administer the FAP through grant agreements with LPH agencies and will ensure adherence to established program standards. We will work to strengthen coordination between the FAP, primary care providers, early intervention programs, childcare, and social services, helping ensure families receive timely, connected supports when developmental concerns are identified. MDH will continue working to expand the availability of the FAP statewide as not all counties currently offer the program. Additionally, CFH staff will continue working across state agencies and settings to support early identification and intervention for young children and their families.

To improve the FAP’s reach and relevance for all Minnesota families, MDH is in the process of evaluating and enhancing the program model, with phased implementation beginning in FFY2026. Enhancements are based on ongoing input from families, providers, and community partners and will include:

• Further development of a cohesive program brand and updated outreach materials that are clear and family centered.
• Begin development of a modernized data system to support more efficient and secure collection, analysis, and use of screening and follow-up data. The system will be designed with interoperability in mind, to enhance alignment with related early childhood systems and support data-informed program improvements over time.
• Continuation of a Community Connector partnership to assist families in navigating early childhood systems – including learning about and enrolling in the FAP. Community Connectors offer direct support to families.

The Community Connector initiative includes grants to eight community-based organizations across the state to pilot and implement this model. The primary goals are to:

• Increase awareness of the FAP among families with young children.
• Support participation by providing navigation assistance and strengthening connections with available services.
• Ensure materials and services are aligned with families’ communication needs and local contexts.
• Encourage ongoing engagement by helping families understand and act on screening results and recommendations.

As part of a broader interagency collaboration with Minnesota’s statewide screening programs, this work underscores a shared commitment to addressing the social-emotional needs of young children and their families, ultimately advancing efforts to promote positive health outcomes within maternal and child health (MCH) populations.

The activities planned for FFY2026 reflect Minnesota’s commitment to increasing access to developmental screening and follow-up services, improving coordination across systems, and supporting families in ways that are responsive to their preferences, needs, and communication styles.

• Support Implementation of the Help Me Connect Online Navigator and Referral System

Minnesota’s Help Me Connect Online Navigator and Referral System launched in May 2021 as an online navigator to connect expectant families, families with young children birth to 8 years of age, and professionals serving these families to services in their local communities that support healthy child development and family well-being. Families and professionals can search a database of over 14,000 available programs and services closest to the family’s home address under topics such as healthy development and screening resources, early learning and childcare programs, pregnancy support services, disability resources, basic needs, and more. The online resource is also available is Spanish, Somali and Hmong. Since its launch, the site has welcomed over 390,000 unique visitors from all MN counties and neighboring states, approximately 21,000 visitors per month, with top key word searches for autism, housing, transportation, and diapers.

Help Me Connect was adopted into MN State Statute 145.988 during the 2023 legislative session and now receives annual funding of $920,000 to ongoing maintenance, database management and numerous enhancement activities. The Help Me Connect program moved to a new state agency – the Department of Children, Youth and Families – in January 2025 with a variety of programs from the Departments of Human Services, Education, and Public Safety that focus on early childhood and family support services. Interagency collaboration between the Department of Health and the Help Me Connect program will continue long-term to maintain connections and assure information on the Help Me Connect platform is maintained and updated consistently.

Connected

• Address Violent Maternal Deaths through Surveillance and Evidence-Based Intervention 

Minnesota partnering with MDH’s Injury and Violence Prevention Section (IVPS) on a maternal violent death project funded by the Office on Women’s Health (OWH). This five-year grant (2021-2026) is designed to reduce deaths among pregnant and postpartum women due to violence with specific interventions around suicide, homicide, and domestic violence. This project aims to 1) enhance surveillance of violent maternal deaths, and 2) expand the evidence-based Confidentiality, Universal Education and Empowerment Support (CUES) intervention. The project team worked closely with the MMRC, MNPQC, and local violence-prevention organizations toward achieving these goals.  

The project team will continue working closely with the MMRC, MNPQC, and other local organizations toward achieving these goals, and will engage in the following activities in FFY2026:  

• Continue Violent Death Reviews using an updated review protocol. 
• Implement an internal maternal violent death database and quality improvement of reporting forms.  
• Continue partnership with the MNPQC and intervention partners to develop and disseminate resources on maternal violence in MN.  
• Focus reporting for violent maternal deaths to be shared with MMRC members and partners. 
• Develop a dissemination and information sharing plan for data connected to this grant. 
• Reimburse MMRC members for participation in this the small sub-working group. 
• Form meaningful connections with medical examiners, including relationship-building through visits to county medical examiners’ offices. 
• Develop an implementation tracker of recommendations related to maternal violence prevention created during the MVDR workgroup members. 

• Advocate for Policies that Promote and Support the Wellbeing of Parents/Caregivers 

Minnesota will convene partners to advocate for policies that promote and support the well-being of families, including the following activities during FFY2026:   

• Identify and participate in statewide working groups, councils, or committees that aim to improve support for parents and caregivers.   
• Build a better understanding of the landscape around issues that impact the well-being of parents and caregivers (and therefore families), including student loan forgiveness, work flexibility, living wages, and paid parental leave.   
• Create and distribute infographics/reports on advocacy topics so they can be used by our partners when advocating for change.  
• Additionally, during the 2023 legislative session, a bill providing a paid family and medical leave (PFML) program for the state was passed. The program provides MN workers up to 12 weeks off per year with partial pay to care for a newborn or sick family member, as well as up to 12 weeks per year to recover from personal serious illness. PFML will coincide with the new earned sick and safe time program, also signed into law during the 2023 legislative session, allowing employees to earn one hour of sick and safe time for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 48 hours a year. The PFML Act will go into effect January 1, 2026, and the Minnesota Team will provide support toward implementation planning and communications efforts.

• Build Partnership and Capacity through MDH’s Disability Health Collaborative

The departmental Disability Health Equity Collaborative (DHEC) will continue to meet quarterly into FFY2026. There continues to be a commitment to the work of the group, and membership continues to grow. MDH is currently working to create an internal strategic plan that establishes a unified vision, mission, and strategic directions for collaborative efforts. This process will align perspectives across divisions, engage community partners meaningfully, and clarify MDH’s distinct public health role in advancing health for people with disabilities. In FFY2026, MDH will plan to operationalize this strategic plan.

• Collaborate to Implement the Community Solutions for Healthy Child Development Grant Program

The CSF grant program will continue through SFY2027. In FFY2026, grantees will be implementing their programs and receive ongoing technical assistance from CSF grant staff and the CSF advisory council. This will include evaluation support to assess the impact of the grant efforts. CFH and CSF will also continue to seek opportunities to collaborate. CFH staff will aim to provide technical assistance for content expertise to grantees while the CSF staff and grantees will share learnings from implementing their programs in community.

• Establish a Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR)

In 2001, the infant mortality statute that required the Commissioner of Health to conduct a FIMR in MN was eliminated. Without the legislation in place, MDH lacks statutory authority to establish a FIMR process and committee. Without a FIMR, it will be difficult to access relevant information from important sources such as medical records, birth and death records, and coroner’s reports to understand fully the circumstances that may have contributed to infant deaths. Since 2014, staff have put forward legislative proposals to reinstate the FIMR without success. In 2021, the proposal advanced as part of the Governor’s biennial budget, but the proposal stalled because of concerns about data privacy. During the 2023 legislative session, MDH submitted a proposal to reinstate the FIMR, and it was included in the Governor’s revised budget proposals for the 2024-2025 biennium. Unfortunately, the proposal was not successful, but MDH will continue to look for opportunities to advance other infant data initiatives, and provide support to cities, counties, tribes, or other jurisdictions seeking to implement a FIMR or strategies to further reduce infant mortality and improve birth outcomes. 

• EHDI video project

The Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program will continue to partner with families and community in FFY2026 to develop and promote resources available for families: 

• A video describing early intervention and its importance for children who are deaf and hard of hearing is now available and the MDH EHDI program will continue promoting this video to partners and families.
• The EHDI program continues to work on developing additional videos for parents and caregivers that aim to explore EHDI topics in an easy-to-understand manner. Work is currently underway on a video explaining the EHDI 1-3-6 goals (screening by 1 month, diagnosis by 3 months, and early intervention by 6 months).

• Identify Barriers to Family Navigation through the NBS Propel Data Collection

In July 2023, MDH was awarded the State Newborn Screening System Priorities Program (NBS Propel) grant from HRSA. As part of this grant, MDH will continue conducting community engagement with families of children who were diagnosed with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) through newborn screening (NBS) to learn about their experience with the NBS system. In FFY2025, MDH engaged with providers and families to begin identifying systems-level facilitators and challenges to family navigation of the NBS system. The continued engagement in FFY2026 will build off these findings and be used to develop a generalized engagement and systemic experience assessment tools for use when implementing any NBS condition.

• Identify Opportunities to Develop and Implement Formal Marketing Campaigns on Mental Wellbeing, Trauma, and Resilience 

Professional anti-stigma campaigns have been effective at raising awareness about mental illness, as well as how to start conversations about mental health to encourage help seeking behaviors. To build toward a comprehensive marketing and communications plan, MDH staff will continue to work with partners to amplify mental wellbeing messages in FFY2026 by:

• Promoting the trauma-informed toolkit to communicate about available resources with different audiences (e.g. parents, jails, early childhood providers, etc.).
• Promoting the implementation of a campaign and training around healthy relationships with technology especially for children and adolescents, including promoting resources developed by Live More Screen Less.
• Support communications about the benefits of nature for mental well-being in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, in support of the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights.
• Identify opportunities to promote Child and Teen Check-ups (C&TC) well visits, the state’s version of the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment service, as well as incorporating other well-being resources and natural supports in clinical settings.
• Partner with C&TC to promote county level outreach to juvenile justice systems and support organizations to educate on the importance of preventive care screenings for youth in community based juvenile justice settings and promote the importance of prompt reinstatement of Medicaid and C&TC services when youth are discharged from secure settings.
• Partner with C&TC to incorporate information on the 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Bright Futures recommendation to include suicide risk assessment questions into depression screening protocol in clinics into our Best Practices training.
• Continue engagement in the Minnesota State Fair Mental Health Awareness event.

• Identify Public Health-Focused Recommendations for the State Mental Health Advisory Council Report

In FFY2026, MDH staff will continue participating on the State Mental Health Advisory Council, Family Systems and Prevention Workgroup, and School Mental Health workgroup. The State Mental Health Advisory Council does not submit a report to the Governor during odd years.  The workgroups will continue to identify opportunities to advance previous recommendations included: expanding wraparound through the system of care initiative, expanding family peer support opportunities, growing family supports in schools, and building community-initiated care to support young people and families. MDH will continue to support a public health perspective in the work of the State Advisory Council on Mental Health and include related recommendations to the Governor in the 2026 State Mental Health Advisory Council Report.

• Implement Minnesota’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Program Parent Guides

Minnesota’s EHDI Program oversees and administers state grant funding to a community organization to implement a statewide parent support program for families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The program utilizes trained parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing as parent guides. The guides are located throughout Minnesota.There is also a congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) parent guide. Parent guides contact each family of a child newly identified as deaf or hard of hearing through the state’s EHDI program to provide ongoing parent support, information and referral, education, and networking opportunities.

• Implement Minnesota Partnership to Prevent Infant Mortality (MPPIM)

The Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Families program was codified into the Minnesota state legislature in 2023. The MPPIM is a statewide multisectoral effort that seeks to leverage existing partnerships and award competitive grants to community-based organizations, tribes, and local public health to improve infant health outcomes in MN. The MPPIM serves as the implementation platform for the state’s Infant Mortality Reduction Initiative, and activities include community engagement, exchange of best practices, data management, and advocacy.

Through the infant health grants offered by this program, in FFY2026, MDH will continue to support community-led safe sleep education and support, with an aim to reduce infant mortality by decreasing the incidence of sleep-related tragedies among infants through use of specific, community-based best practices. Additionally, MDH will promote consistent safe sleep messaging statewide and collaborate with our community partners and the Minnesota Partnership to Prevent Infant Mortality grantees to expand community-based infant mortality prevention and specific resources for populations at risk of experiencing an infant death.

• Implement the CDC Infant Mortality Prevention Grant – Minnesota Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID)/Sudden Death in the Young (SDY) Registry and Prevention Initiative

In September 2023, MDH was awarded a five-year multi-component CDC grant to improve case ascertainment, data completeness, and timeliness. The grant also seeks to reduce the incidence of sudden unexpected sleep related tragedies. As a part of this grant, MDH has proposed to create Minnesota’s first Safe Sleep Collaborative under which an Internal Safe Sleep Planning Team and a Community Safe Sleep Leadership Team will be houses. The Community Safe Sleep Leadership Team will include 15 members from community partner agencies, programs, and initiatives working to improve outcomes. The Community Safe Sleep Leadership Team will steer the work of the grant with a focus on building capacity within communities to improve infant health outcomes.

• Participate in the ​Sickle Cell Data Collection Program

MDH staff will continue to participate in the 2023-2028 Sickle Cell Data Collection (SCDC) program grant funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The purpose of the SCDC is to support the infrastructure for a surveillance system that collects data to inform healthcare practice and policies related to sickle cell disease (SCD), gain a better understanding of the healthcare and health outcomes of all individuals with SCD, regardless of age, insurance, disease severity, or location of health care, and to disseminate data that help inform policy and healthcare standards that improve and extend the lives of people with SCD. Minnesota will continue to work to develop data sharing agreements with clinical partners and our state Medicaid partner, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS).

• Participating on Newborn Screening Committees

Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory Committee

The Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory Committee, also known as the Early Hearing Detection & Intervention (EHDI) Advisory Committee, provides guidance in developing protocols and timelines for screening, rescreening, and diagnostic audiological assessment as well as early intervention services for children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Members include parents of children who are deaf and hard of hearing, advocates with expertise in issues affecting people who are deaf and hard of hearing, health care providers, hospital representatives, and other medical and education experts.

Newborn Screening Advisory Committee

The Newborn Screening Advisory Committee, also called the Advisory Committee on Heritable and Congenital Disorders, was established in 2003. This committee provides advice and recommendations concerning tests and treatments for heritable and congenital conditions found in newborns, including making informed recommendations to add new disorders to the newborn screening panel.

CFH staff will continue providing support to and serving on these committees in FFY2026.

• Prioritize the Interconnection between Health, Homelessness, and Housing to Drive Policy and Systems Change

Homelessness and health are interconnected, and MDH recognizes that homelessness and housing instability significantly impact community and MCH population health. Additionally, housing continues to be a top search through Minnesota’s Help Me Connect Resource Hub. While not funded through Title V, MDH created a homeless-specific senior-level position. The Senior Advisor on Health, Homelessness, and Housing was hired in Spring 2022, and to the best knowledge of MDH and the CDC, the Senior Advisor on Health, Homelessness, and Housing is the first position of its kind at a state health department. This position will continue to work with state and local partners on public health and homelessness, including as a lead in the MICH work around the Justice Strategic Plan. Title V staff will continue work closely with this staff member with a focus on the interconnections between homelessness, housing, and MCH population health.

In FFY2026, Title V staff will work with the MDH Senior Advisor on Health, Homelessness, and Housing to explore opportunities to develop information and resources for Title V grantees and the general public to increase awareness and understanding of the interconnections between homelessness, housing, and MCH population health. This includes developing facts sheets and webinars on addressing housing and homelessness in MCH populations using Title V resources.

• Promote Partners to Engage Families and Communities in Program Implementation and Feedback

Minnesota’s Family Home Visiting program requires all grantees to include activities on their annual workplans that assures they regularly receive community input and participant/family voice. This input is then used to continually inform and improve their individual programs, as well as the Minnesota Family Home Visiting program as a whole. These requirements will continue in FFY2026.

• Strengthen Cross-Sector Partnerships to Address MCH priorities

In FFY2026, MDH staff will engage in the following activities aimed at strengthening cross-sector partnerships to address MCH priorities:

• Work with key partners, including the MDH SHIP, MN Public Health Law Network, MDH Healthy MN Partnership, Local Public Health Association, and others, to assess the state landscape for mental well-being related policy initiatives, as well as stakeholders, related research, and reports that support proposed policies.
• Utilize the MN Mental Well-Being and Resilience Learning Community to identify examples of relevant policies – inviting presenters to provide relevant policy examples that support their work and proposals with the learning community and partners.
• Promote and contribute to the development of tools that help identify important and relevant policies. For example, we will continue to partner with the University of MN Extension and School of Public Health to use the Social Ecological Model which was developed through this partnership.
• Contribute to the Trust for Public Land and Child and Nature Network – Green Schoolyard Advisory Committee, in partnership with the MN SHIP, Department of Natural Resources, and MN Department of Education, to inform strategies that support local policy action.

• Strengthen and expand the Minnesota Perinatal Quality Collaborative (MNPQC)

Minnesota became an AIM state in Spring of 2022 and the MNPQC, co-led by MDH, is eager to take the next step in statewide quality improvement efforts for maternal health outcomes. The MNPQC is primarily responsible for coordinating AIM implementation and is undergoing exploratory opportunities to develop the data platform to increase efficiency and reduce burden with hospital partners. This grant program will provide five-year funding support to the MNPQC to lead the establishment of an AIM data infrastructure, including data collection portals, reporting, engagement of hospitals/providers, and expand AIM bundles being implemented in Minnesota. MNPQC is especially eager to engage with the AIM community to learn, build and grow this work. Objectives supporting this in FFY2026 are to:

• Identify and implement AIM bundles and support data collection and sharing.
• Provide AIM technical assistance, training, and sharing QI project success to promote participation.
• Identify the next AIM bundle, incorporating the Innovations for Maternal Health Outcomes in Minnesota (I-MOM) project work, including the MCH Task Force Perinatal Sub-Committee, the Perinatal Health Strategic Plan, and community recommendations.
• Work to address, as a primary improvement activity, critical cross-sector collaboration, like the urgent need to seamlessly address maternal opioid misuse alongside pregnancy, postpartum and pediatric care.

The state PQC grant program will continue to:

• implement continuous quality improvement tools and strategies to improve practices and meet goals.
• Advance evidence-based and evidence-informed clinics and other health service practices and processes through quality care review, chart audits, and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
• Review current data, trends, and research on best practices to inform and prioritize quality improvement initiatives.
• Support quality improvement initiatives to address substance use disorders in pregnant women and infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome or other effects of substance use.
• Provide a forum to discuss state-specific system and policy issues to guide quality improvement efforts that improve population-level perinatal outcomes.
• Reach providers and institutions in a multidisciplinary, collaborative, and coordinated effort across system organizations to reinforce a continuum of care model; and
• Support health care facilities in monitoring interventions through rapid data collection and applying system changes to provide improved care in perinatal health.

• Support Rural Perinatal Health through the Minnesota Perinatal Quality Collaborative (MNPQC)

Minnesota has an active landscape prioritizing improved perinatal outcomes across our communities, particularly for rural residents and those with limited/no access to transportation. In July 2023, Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Families Act passed the MN legislation to ensure the health and well-being of young children and their families. This 18-million-dollar investment in over 4 years includes advancing perinatal health and wellbeing through advancing community and partner strategies. One key investment in partnership as a leading solution have been demonstrated in supporting programs and/or organizations such as a state perinatal quality collaborative. Minnesota legislation identified the need of a nonprofit organization to support efforts that improve maternal and infant health outcomes. MN Perinatal Organization (MPO) is the nonprofit organization that leads the MNPQC. This MNPQC grant is to create or sustain a multidisciplinary network of representatives of health care systems, health care providers, academic institutions, local and state agencies, and community partners that will collaboratively improve pregnancy and infant outcomes through evidence-based, population-level quality improvement initiatives. The grant program started early fall 2023 with a program timeline through June 2026. MNPQC launched the Linking Identification & Navigation for Perinatal Mental Health & Substance Use Care (LINK) initiative active in October 2024 - October 2026. This initiative builds on the success and insights from the initial substance use disorder program and integrates two patient safety bundles designed for maternal health: Care for Pregnant and Postpartum women with Substance Use Disorder and Perinatal Mental Health Conditions. As MNPQC will transition the LINK Initiative into a maintenance phase, the focus for the coming year will shift from initial implementation to sustainability, shared learning, and embedding practices into routine care. An end of 2025 opportunity will be a community of learning including aspects from the AIM bundle on obstetrical hemorrhage.

• Support the​ Transforming Maternal Health Model (TMaH) Implementation

In January 2025, Minnesota was selected through an application process as one of fifteen states to participate in the TMaH Model through 2035, through the Centers for Medicate & Medicaid Services. The Minnesota state Medicaid program and Minnesota Department of Health are partnering to lead implementation of the TmaH model to address maternal health care. States will be required to address the following elements:

• Access, Infrastructure, and Workforce
• Quality Improvement and Safety
• Whole-Person Care Delivery

Minnesota’ s Maternal Care Access Coordinator and Maternal Health Innovations Coordinator are the Minnesota Department of Health representatives serving on the TMaH team. More details will become available as the project is moved further into the pre-implementation period, and toward implementation.

• Strengthen State Capacity to Improve Maternal Health Outcomes

In FFY2023, MDH was awarded a new HRSA grant from the State Maternal Innovation and Data Capacity Program. The purpose of the award is to support state capacity to improve maternal health through quality services, a skilled workforce, enhanced data quality and capacity, and innovative programming that aims to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity. MDH created the “Innovations for Maternal Health Outcomes in MN (I-MOM)” program. The purpose of the I-MOM program is focused on alignment and strengthening of the implementation of innovative, data-driven, community-informed and supported perinatal health programs to improve perinatal health outcomes for Minnesota communities.

I-MOM activities include innovative programing, increased data capacity, implementation of AIM statewide quality improvement care initiatives, and support for building a skilled perinatal health workforce to reduce perinatal morbidity and mortality, and goals include:

• build a shared perinatal health vision.
• strengthen data infrastructure.
• improve the collection, reporting, and analysis of AIM data.

As a part of the I-MOM project, MDH established a Perinatal Sub-Committee under the existing Maternal and Child Health Advisory Task Force which supports development of Minnesota’s first Perinatal Health Strategic Plan. The I-MOM Project Planner will lead project management and implementation of the I-MOM project in FFY2026 until the end of the grant period, including collaboration with Title V staff and the Perinatal Sub-Committee.   

Local Title V

Supported

• Collaborate with Community Partners and Families to Develop and Deliver Programs and Services

Local Public Health agencies in Minnesota recognize the importance of building and sustaining strong relationships with community partners and families to develop and deliver programs and services that are appropriate for and responsive to individual and family needs. Example of how local public health agencies are and will continue to do this in FFY2026 include:

• Translation of program and recruitment materials through a community review process with families as intended audiences, and professionals that can speak to their use.
• Collaborating with community partners to deliver programs and services rather than creating new in-house programs or services because of the established trust from communities.
• Creating strong partnerships with other local public health agencies to build staff capacity and deliver individual and family responsive services.
• Hiring a Community Health Strategist within local public health agencies to focus on outreach and engagement with communities.
• Directly engaging community and family members in development, improvement, and delivery of programs and services through, for example community action boards and community advisory boards.