LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR WYMAN, MAYOR HARP, DSS ANNOUNCE

EXPANSION OF MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE FOR NEW HAVEN FAMILIES

$3.4 Million for New Haven MOMs Partnership Bringing Services to Popular

Community Sites like Stop & Shop, Boys & Girls Club, West Rock Authors' Academy

(NEW HAVEN, CT, Dec. 9, 2014) - Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman today joined Mayor Toni N. Harp, Social Services Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby, Yale University and business and community partners to announce the expansion of pioneering initiative to help families access mental health services at popular sites in the community, including Stop & Shop Supermarket, West Rock Authors' Academy, and the Boys & Girls Club of New Haven.

"I applaud DSS, Yale, and the New Haven MOMs for their work to get mental health services into the heart of the community," said Lt. Governor Wyman. "Investing in new approaches to connect people with programs is critical to building a stronger Connecticut. With our federal, state, and community partners engaged in the effort, we are even closer to meeting the mental health needs of Connecticut families."

Connecticut is allocating nearly $3.4 million to support the New Haven Mental Health Outreach for Mothers (MOMS) Partnership, a community-academic partnership consisting of some of the largest Connecticut organizations serving families and the Yale University School of Medicine.

The initiative will also offer employment and assistance with basic needs to families in convenient locations called 'hubs.' Initial sites will include the Stop & Shop Supermarket on Whalley Avenue, the Boys & Girls Club of New Haven and the West Rock Authors' Academy, in partnership with the New Haven Public Schools. Additional sites offering similar safe and easily accessible meeting places and community outreach support will be announced in the coming months.

"The driving principle behind this new approach is to match up the location of quality services with familiar places visited by families in their everyday lives," said DSS Commissioner Bremby. "When we make it easier for families to access crucial help in dealing with children's behavioral health and the stresses that cause adverse childhood experiences, we are also helping the greater community."

Mayor Harp said, "I am pleased and proud about how New Haven is an emergent leader in developing new, evidence-based approaches to social services, particularly where it helps mothers cope with depression and toxic stress that puts them and their families at risk. We must continue finding ways to incorporate mental and behavioral health strategies into our public health policy network."

According to a statement from the White House "The Malloy Administration will deploy federal funds in support of two innovative, evidence-based solutions to help promote positive child health and development. One is a dual-generation solution for low-income, single mothers and their children. The program, MOMS partnership, coordinated by the Yale University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the city of New Haven and community agencies, will address depression and toxic stress among others to improve the health, economic security and educational outcomes for families. By using and developing evidence of what works to keep families with their children, the Connecticut efforts aim to create better life outcomes for kids while saving resources for safety net-programs."

The New Haven MOMS Partnership has a mission of uniting women and their families with individuals and institutions dedicated to the emotional wellness of mothers in order to create generations of children that flourish, succeed and achieve.

The partnership is a collaborative of the Yale School of Medicine, All Our Kin, Clifford Beers Clinic, the Diaper Bank and National Diaper Bank Network, Housing Authority of New Haven, New Haven Health Department, New Haven Healthy Start, New Haven Public Schools and Connecticut Department of Children and Families. It represents "an innovative, multi-generation approach to promoting the well-being of mothers and children through a collaborative of agencies committed to making a visible difference in the lives of families and the New Haven community," Dr. Megan V. Smith of the Yale University School of Medicine's Departments of Psychiatry & Public Health.

Commissioner Rob Klee of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection also attended the announcement event at Stop & Shop Tuesday to support the initiative.

In conjunction with DSS, the MOMS Partnership will create this two-generation approach through 'MOMS Zones' in 12 neighborhoods in New Haven, a model that will be scaled to the State of Connecticut. These MOMS Zones will have two unique features a 'MOMS hub' to deliver centralized mental health and family economic security services; and a neighborhood workforce of Community Ambassadors (mothers from New Haven trained in brief mental health intervention) to engage the hardest to reach families and encourage the engagement of these families with the MOMS hubs.

Through a procurement announced by Governor Dannel P. Malloy, DSS has awarded $3,389,907 to Yale for this expansion of the New Haven MOMS Partnership, supported through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Hurricane Sandy Supplemental Social Services Block Grant funding was awarded by ACF to states impacted by the storm to address the social services, health, mental health and child care needs of children and families impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Funds may also be used to repair and rebuild certain facilities used to support these same services.