Congressman Dan Goldman Announces $1 Million Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Grant to New York University School of Medicine
Grant Would Fund the 'Prenatal Starting Early Program,' Focused on Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity During Pregnancy
New York, NY – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) today announced the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded a $969,953 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant to New York University School of Medicine for a mobile health intervention program focused on improving nutrition and physical activity during pregnancy.
“I am extremely proud to announce that NYU Medicine will be receiving this Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Award,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “StEP:Prenatal will be critical to meaningfully improve health outcomes for pregnant patients and young children. I’m confident this will be a successful program and am looking forward to working in partnership with NYU to ensure that we can provide this program to patients across the country.”
The grant is for the Prenatal Starting Early Program (StEP:Prenatal), a mobile health intervention in prenatal care and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Currently, even though 80 percent of pregnant patients in safety-net prenatal clinics receive WIC and have high rates of nutrition related pregnancy risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension, the WIC care and care they receive at the clinics are not coordinated.
StEP:Prenatal will divide participants into control and intervention groups to test effects, such as diet, physical activity, pregnancy outcomes, changes in nutrition knowledge among families and nutrition providers, and access and use of StEP:Prenatal materials. Through this program, WIC nutritionists will use mobile health to incorporate StEP:Prenatal content in pregnancy certification visits. Mobile health interventions can significantly impact diet and lifestyle behaviors linked to nutrition related chronic diseases, are cheaper to implement, and are more accessible for patients.
Congressman Dan Goldman is committed to improving maternal health outcomes in moms across the United States.
In May, Congressman Goldman cosponsored the ‘Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act,’ which includes twelve individual bills that together would comprehensively address the maternal mortality crisis in the United States, including the significant racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes.
In October, Goldman cosponsored the ‘WIC For Kids Act,’ which would simplify the enrollment process for WIC by automatically granting WIC eligibility for mothers and children who reside in a household in which a member participates is other assistance programs such as SNAP or Medicaid.
Congressman Dan Goldman is a founding member of the Congressional Dads Caucus, which advocates for paid family and medical leave policies for all parents, expanding the Child Tax Credit, increasing access to childcare, and other policies that reduce poverty and ease the burden on working parents.
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