New York City Mayor Mamdani announced on Friday, February 27th, his plan to allocate $20 million from the 2026 fiscal year budget to expand pregnancy and infant services, with many children’s parents to be included.
The New York City Health Department will receive this $20 million investment over three years to expand the eligibility criteria of the NYC Nurse-Family Partnership (NYC-NFP) program, to include parents with multiple children, and allow pregnant women to enroll in the late stages of pregnancy.
As part of this investment, the Health Department will provide more families with registered nurse home visiting services to support the health of pregnant women during pregnancy, and to provide mental health resources for parents and infants, while strengthening the workforce of mental health professionals.
The funding will also be used to establish a three-year scholarship program to expand training and employment opportunities for early childhood mental health professionals, aiming to cultivate a group of clinical physicians with perinatal and early childhood experience.
This initiative is known as the “Strong Foundations” program.
“The cost-of-living crisis impacts New York City families before children are even born,” Mamdani stated in a release, “Therefore… all parents should have access to high-quality prenatal and perinatal care, and today’s announcement will ensure that all New Yorkers, especially those facing structural barriers to care, have the necessary resources from the start of a child’s life.”
Through the “Strong Foundations” project, nurses will undergo additional training to serve more families in New York City, and distribute more supplies such as baby cribs, diapers, and educational toys.
The program will also support the Health Department’s Perinatal and Early Childhood Mental Health (P+ECMH) network clinics in expanding service capacity and increasing staff, as well as annually funding the certification of 20 professionals in mental health, and establishing a three-year scholarship program for new graduates to invest in talent development, providing support for families with infants.
For over two decades, the NYC Nurse-Family Partnership program has provided full support from registered nurses to over 25,000 expectant parents.