Are You Ready?
First Time Motherhood/ New Parent Initiative

	Ready, Set, Plan!	APEX 2010 Award Winner

Are You Ready? Project Overview
What Community Health Coaches Do
Family Planning Resources (Be Smart. Be Ready.)
Ready, Set Plan (community-based training)
Media Campaign

Are You Ready? Project Overview

The New Parent Project focus ran from September 2008 - August 2010 resources in six northeastern North Carolina counties (Edgecombe, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Nash and Northampton) for two years with the goal of engaging individuals and community groups to make positive lifestyle changes that contribute to having healthier families.

(Click to enlarge)
NC Map of the 6 northeastern counties targeted - Edgecombe, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Nash and Northampton.

This project worked through an interagency collaborative between the:

• N.C. Division of Public Health (lead agency)
• Center for Health and Healing
• Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services
  Research, UNC - Chapel Hill
• North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation
• UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health
• Health Departments of the 6 northeastern counties:
  • Edgecombe
  • Gates
  • Halifax
  • Hertford
  • Nash
  • Northampton

Are You Ready? project goals were accomplished through:

• Community Health Coaches (trained through
  faith-based and community-based organizations)
• A media campaign (radio and television)
• An information and referral telephone line
• Distribution of educational materials
• Healthcare provider training

Funding to support and develop this project came from Project HMMC10862 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (Title V, Social Security Act) to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, Women’s Health Branch. 

What Community Health Coaches Do

Community Health Coaches raise awareness of health challenges and health resources in their communites.
They play an active and important role in helping people in their community think about and develop a plan for their future and the future of their family.

It is easier than you think. Community Health Coaches received free training, materials, resources, great incentives and on-going support.

Training sessions used the Ready, Set, Plan!, a training program designed by the Foundation for this project to reach community-based and faith-based organizations.

Ready, Set, Plan!

The Ready, Set, Plan! curriculum brings people together to talk about family health in community-based and faith-based conversations. It combines important health information with engaging activities. It challenges the participants to apply the curriculum to their everyday lives. Ready, Set, Plan! aims to connect a host of community partners including: healthcare providers, community-based organizations, individuals, local activists and other small groups. Through these connections, families in northeastern North Carolina are now better equipped to begin planning a healthy family and a healthy future.

Ready, Set, Plan! Routes

Ready, Set, Plan! takes three routes to a healthier life and a healthier family.

1. Health and Wellness Route
2. Emotional Health and Wellness Route
3. Planning a Family Route

All of the routes share the same goal of bringing people together to talk about the importance of family health and family planning in community-based conversations. The routes help people make choices about how to have a healthy life and a healthy family.

All of the Routes ask the questions "Are You Ready?" and "What's Your Plan?" The "Are You Ready?" questions focus on choices people make that impact their health and the health of their families. The "What's Your Plan?" question prompt people to make decisions on what they will do to be healthier.

Are You Ready? Media Campaign

WRSV Soul 92 Jams was on-hand live for the New Parent initiative kick-off in Rocky Mount, NC on July 16, 2009.

The media theme: Plan a healthy life, plan a healthy family.

Media was an integral part of the project and raised awareness of the benefits of planning one's future and the consequences of an unintended pregnancy

A media schedule on televition and radio ran in July 2009, March 2010 and July 2010. Media partners included:
NBC-17, ABC-11, Fox 50 and a variety of cable television stations: BET, MTV, VH-1, Lifetime, ESPN and Nickelodeon. Radio included: WPWZ, Power 95.5, WBOB, 107.3, The Promise, WFXC/WFXK, Foxy 107/104 and WQDR 94.7. In addition, a live remote broadcast on WRSV Soul 92 kicked of the New Parent initiative.

New Parent media spots are on our Multimedia Page.

Radio personality “B-Rabbit” from WRSV interviews Amy Doughtie a Health Educator with the Nash County Health Department.

The New Parent initiative kicked off with a live radio remote broadcast on WRSV Soul 92 Jams. The event was held at the Down East Partnership for Children in Rocky Mount on July 16.

Other Links

North Carolina

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Last updated:October 2011