Call for Information: Seeking Home Visiting Programs Interested in Supporting Family Economic Well-Being

Call for Information

Purpose

The Supporting Family Economic Well-Being through Home Visiting (HomeEc) project is seeking home visiting programs that are interested in enhancing their support for family economic well-being. Selected programs will participate in a proposed formative evaluation with experienced researchers to co-create and pilot test practices intended to improve families’ economic well-being through home visiting programs. The project will work with participating programs to develop concrete practices and accompanying training materials to use in their programs and with the families they serve.

Potential practices to support family economic well-being could include the following:

  • Providing budgeting support to participants using a new or existing standard budgeting tool
  • Asking questions about economic circumstances on existing intake forms in a strengths-based way to build rapport between the home visitor and the participant
  • Building or strengthening partnerships to address family economic well-being—for example, creating a referral partnership for community economic supports or access to public benefits 
  • Providing a short lesson or handout about a financial education topic, such as how to establish credit or open a bank account 
  • Coaching participants on how to set and pursue meaningful economic goals, such as saving for a car, seeking employment, or obtaining an educational degree  
  • Training staff to improve their understanding of (1) family economic well-being, (2) the relationships between family economic well-being and home visiting priorities, and/or (3) delivering services using a strengths-based model

The project is funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, which is within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration and ACF’s Tribal Home Visiting Program.  

Overview of the evaluation

The formative evaluation will take place over the course about one year, starting in fall 2024.1 HomeEc is looking for programs willing and excited to participate in an innovative and collaborative process to design and try new practices to support families’ economic well-being. Programs do not need to have prior experience directly supporting family economic well-being to participate in the project. For the purposes of this project, family economic well-being includes a family’s ability to meet basic needs, have financial security, have control over financial decisions, and have secure and satisfactory employment.  

Selected programs will be asked to regularly engage with the HomeEc project team to develop a practice and provide feedback on their experience using it through a short pilot test. The table below describes activities select program staff may be asked to participate in over the course of the yearlong evaluation. If a program is selected for further consideration, additional details will be provided.

 

Selected program staff who may participate

Activity

Program leaders and managers

Program supervisors

Home visitors or frontline staff

Relevant partner agency staff

Caregiver participants

  1. Planning calls about twice per month

X

 

 

 

 

  1. Initial interviews to learn about programs and identify the focus of the practice

X

X

X

X

X

  1. Up to six strategic planning meetings to select and design the practice

X

X

X

 

 

  1. Hands-on training and technical assistance on the practice

 

X

X

X

 

  1. Surveys and interviews on experiences trying out the practice during short, repeated pilot tests

 

X

X

X

X

  1. Sharing or reviewing readily available administrative data that is relevant to the practice

X

X

X

X

 

Submission instructions

If you have information about a program that is interested in participating in this project, please send it to HomeEc@mathematica-mpr.com by June 15, 2024. Helpful information could include: 

  • The program name, description of the program, and populations served
  • Home visiting model or models used
  • Whether the program receives Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program or Tribal MIECHV funding
  • What the program might be interested in addressing in the formative evaluation related to family economic well-being; for example, whether the program is interested in addressing basic needs, financial security, financial decision-making, or employment; or is interested in piloting any of the potential practices listed above
  • The program’s capacity to participate in the formative evaluation
  • The program’s current number of home visitors and typical caseload
  • Whether the program engages current or former participants, such as through an advisory board or council
  • Whether the program has partnerships with community organization(s) established, or has identified a potential partner, that provides services related to family economic well-being
  • If the project would have capacity to dedicate a “champion” or main contact as well as the name of the individual 

Descriptions will be most helpful if they are brief (such as two or fewer pages). The HomeEc team will review nominations and will contact select programs for more information. Selected programs may be profiled in a public report to help other programs learn how to better support family economic well-being. Please feel free to share this call for information with other colleagues in your network.

 1 As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA; Public Law 104-13), the related data collection activities for this formative evaluation that are subject to PRA will be reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget prior to requesting any information from respondents. The timeline to begin data collection is dependent on this approval.