A Message to Champions and Advocates

Together, we have labored over the past 15 months to educate and encourage our congressional leaders to reauthorize MIECHV.  You should be proud that although MIECHV has not been reauthorized as of yet, we can see light at the end of the tunnel.  It is through your efforts and support that Congress has shown great interest in reauthorizing MIECHV.

We now stand at a critical moment.  Your help is needed to continue to educate your congressional leaders in the House and Senate regarding the importance of reauthorizing MIECHV for 5 years without the harmful state match.  Let them know that doing so is critical to providing families with the evidence based services that help preserve our communities and demonstrate dedication to the well-being of our nation’s children.

We can see congressional enthusiasm and commitment concerning MIECHV through the bipartisan work of MIECHV champions, Senators Chuck Grassley and Robert Menendez, in the form of the bipartisan bill S.1829.  The bill asks for 5 years reauthorization of MIECHV and has garnered 22 co-sponsors.  Hats off to these champions and all of the supporting senators on this bill.

As well, we have two bills originating in the House of Representatives which both ask for 5 years reauthorization of MIECHV.  A recent discussion draft focusing on health extenders in the Senate also calls for MIECHV’s reauthorization.  Some of us are rightfully concerned because that draft, seemingly out of sync with the aforementioned bills, calls for only a two year reauthorization.  However, the discussion draft is just that -a “discussion” draft.  Senators Hatch and Wyden, who released the draft, have both been ardent supporters of MIECHV and evidenced-based programs that help families and children. This means the opportunity to achieve the 5 year reauthorization already proposed and supported in three separate bills is a real possibility.

How do we help bring this possibility to reality?  We must continue to be the formidable educators to our congressional leaders, state leaders, and fellow advocates in this heightened discussion on MIECHV reauthorization.  Your voices, individual and organizational, are the keys to making this happen.  You have pushed the stone this far up the hill, I encourage you not to give up now.  MIECHV reauthorization for 5 years is within our reach.

What makes five years so important? Five years gives stability to the families and children served by the program.  The two years proposed in the discussion draft, while appreciated, is challenging for the thirty month (or more) commitment that programs make to families in order to provide effective evidence based home visiting services.

In addition, a two year reauthorization means that within six months of the bill’s passage, the home visiting community will have to again turn its attention to reauthorizing MIECHV as opposed to a broader and much needed focus on improving home visiting by fine tuning services and increasing retention and recruitment of families in a rapidly shifting world.   Certainly, no harm is intended by the discussion draft, but we need to be careful not to inhibit the space for innovations necessary to move the effectiveness of home visiting forward, i.e., responses to issues like the opioid epidemic, increased community violence, mental health needs, and overall maintenance of cross domain outcomes.

• Funding MIECHV for less than five years reduces, and in some cases even damages, the program’s efficiency.
• Two years of funding does not cover the two-and-a-half year – or longer – commitment that programs make to children and families.
• Programs will be unable to plan long-term, undermining the stability of the program and making it harder for them to retain workers. It can take upwards of a year to replace a home visitor.

Much work has gone into ensuring that MIECHV is reauthorized with expediency.  Unfortunately, there remains much work to be done.  Advocates and champions alike can make a 5 year MIECHV reauthorization a reality to avoid damage occurring in this important programming for families.

Already, natural disasters and state budget crises have been straining the resources of this program.  Working together, we can provide relief by being a vocal and supportive resource to our congressional champions in their bi-partisan effort to reauthorize MIECHV for 5 years!  Policymakers want to hear from all of us.  Use the next two weeks to share your expertise with them.

As always – Onward!

Diedra