The Boston Medical Center (BMC) Vital Village Network has identified Catholic Community Services’ Fostering Hope Initiative (FHI) has been identified as one of 5-10 “bright spots” in America for young children and their families. BMC Vital Village and its partners in their Networks of Opportunity for Child Well Being project visited Salem in November to learn more about how FHI is helping to pioneer the alignment of neighborhood based systems of care to improve the lives of children and families. 

Boston Medical Center and its partners received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to visit 5-10 innovative programs around the country as part of their strategic planning process.  They visited Catholic Community Services to meet with FHI staff, families and partners to gain insight into developing a framework that aligns and integrates services to decrease trauma and adversity in children’s lives.

renee-boynton-jarrett“Our work focuses on the role of early-life adversities as social determinants of health,” said Renee Boynton-Jarrett, a primary care pediatrician at BMC and project partner through Vital Village. Boynton-Jarrett is founding director of Vital Village, a community engagement network that works to improve neighborhood health and mitigate patterns of community and domestic violence that lead to child abuse and neglect. 

“It is inspiring to learn of how FHI partners are improving childhood outcomes by providing resources that help parents take responsibility for their own health, their children’s health and the health of their neighborhoods,” she said.

Visit Vital Village and Fostering Hope Initiative online to learn more.