ENHANCE: Enhancing Nutrition in Home-Visiting programs to Advance pareNt-Child health

“ENHANCE: Enhancing Nutrition in Home-Visiting programs to Advance pareNt-Child health” is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under a UG3/UH3 mechanism. Led by Dr. Marie-France Hivert and Dr. Maggie McConnell and conducted in collaboration with the Children's Trust Massachusetts, the Greater Boston Food Bank, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Healthy Families Massachusetts (HFM), the ENHANCE study aims to co-develop and test new approaches to improving nutrition and reducing food insecurity among families in Massachusetts.

ENHANCE will co-create, implement, and evaluate a nutritional enhancement model within the Healthy Families Massachusetts Home Visiting Programs, which include 23 sites across the state serving first-time parents, many of which are low-income and food insecure. In the first two years, the project is piloting a six-week nutrition curriculum series that builds practical cooking and nutrition skills, alongside partnerships with local food pantries, to deliver healthy food boxes to participating families. In the subsequent phase, the project will assess the effectiveness and delivery of the program across all HFM sites in Massachusetts.

Through this multi-sectorial approach, ENHANCE seeks to improve access to nutritious food while supporting sustainable, community-based strategies to improve parent and child health.