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Item 1.D.
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| City Council Regular | |
| Date: | 09/25/2023 |
| Title: | Funding Agreement between the City and Riverstone Health to Increase Nurse Family Partnership |
| Presented by: | Chris Kukulski, City Administrator |
| Department: | City Hall Administration |
| Presentation: | No |
| Legal Review: | Yes |
| Project Number: | N/A |
RECOMMENDATION
City Council approve the enclosed agreement between the City and Riverstone Health, contributing $200,000 annually for up to five (5) years to increase the capacity of the Nurse Family Partnership home visiting program by a minimum of two (2) additional nurses.
BACKGROUND (Consistency with Adopted Plans and Policies, if applicable)
Improving the safety of Billings remains the city’s #1 priority. The 2021 PSML (public safety mill levy) included two additional mills to invest in mental health and substance abuse. Nearly every PSML presentation included a commitment to reduce violent crime, improve downtown safety, improve traffic safety, and support mental health, substance abuse and prevention partners. The enclosed agreement invests $200,000 annually in a partnership with Riverstone Health to expand the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program. The contract is for three (3) years with one, two (2) year extension. "Either party may terminate this agreement ... without cause, by providing the other party ninety (90) days' written notice of termination." Also note that in the recitals we state that this commitment is meant to be a catalyst not permanent, committing to work together to identify sustainable funding to support home visiting services long term..
The recommended investment is in one of the most rigorously reviewed home visitation programs in our country. Hard data in this program's 40+ year history throughout the US and for its shorter 10 year, history in Montana show an $8 to $1 return on investment (ROI). This ROI is primarily connected to the high numbers of NFP families who stay out of the criminal justice system, achieve educational goals, and remain in the workforce. Date also shows a 63% reduction in domestic violence, immediately reducing trauma and law enforcement calls for service.
Data throughout the country provides strong evidence that most of today’s criminals are coming from homes where trauma is prevalent. Arguably the greatest injustice is that their children are too often destined to enter the criminal justice system if we don’t invest in preventing and addressing childhood trauma. Therefore, I focused my attention on learning about strategies and programs that break this cycle. The Deepest Well by Nadine Burke Harris, MD and Hope Rising by Casey Gwinn, JD & Chan Hellman, PHD are resources I used and recommend to gain important knowledge on the impacts of childhood trauma. By no means is this exhaustive, but they are research based and extremely informative for those of us who don’t regularly work in this area. NFP is one of the most respected, heavily analyzed, and effective programs and is strongly supported by the US Justice Department.
Over the last 10 years, NFP has served more than 400 Yellowstone County families. This voluntary home visiting program from RiverStone Health nurses has improved the lives of pregnant women, new moms and dads, and their babies. Among participants, smoking decreased 25%, alcohol use dropped 56%, reports of domestic violence dropped 63% and the number of mothers who were back in the workforce 12 weeks after delivery increased 31%. (see attachments) By adding two NFP nurses approx. 50 - 60 additional families will be in the program each year, nearly doubling the number of families served.
Community data indicates that we have ~360 births annually, to moms who had inadequate prenatal care. This data along with the skyrocketing levels of foster care indicate childhood trauma is becoming all too common. NFP’s critically important standards, require nurses’ caseloads remain under 30. Therefore, the current program needs to grow significantly from serving 62 families with 2.5 nurses building trusting life changing relationships with several hundred Billings families annually.
The recommended investment is in one of the most rigorously reviewed home visitation programs in our country. Hard data in this program's 40+ year history throughout the US and for its shorter 10 year, history in Montana show an $8 to $1 return on investment (ROI). This ROI is primarily connected to the high numbers of NFP families who stay out of the criminal justice system, achieve educational goals, and remain in the workforce. Date also shows a 63% reduction in domestic violence, immediately reducing trauma and law enforcement calls for service.
Data throughout the country provides strong evidence that most of today’s criminals are coming from homes where trauma is prevalent. Arguably the greatest injustice is that their children are too often destined to enter the criminal justice system if we don’t invest in preventing and addressing childhood trauma. Therefore, I focused my attention on learning about strategies and programs that break this cycle. The Deepest Well by Nadine Burke Harris, MD and Hope Rising by Casey Gwinn, JD & Chan Hellman, PHD are resources I used and recommend to gain important knowledge on the impacts of childhood trauma. By no means is this exhaustive, but they are research based and extremely informative for those of us who don’t regularly work in this area. NFP is one of the most respected, heavily analyzed, and effective programs and is strongly supported by the US Justice Department.
Over the last 10 years, NFP has served more than 400 Yellowstone County families. This voluntary home visiting program from RiverStone Health nurses has improved the lives of pregnant women, new moms and dads, and their babies. Among participants, smoking decreased 25%, alcohol use dropped 56%, reports of domestic violence dropped 63% and the number of mothers who were back in the workforce 12 weeks after delivery increased 31%. (see attachments) By adding two NFP nurses approx. 50 - 60 additional families will be in the program each year, nearly doubling the number of families served.
Community data indicates that we have ~360 births annually, to moms who had inadequate prenatal care. This data along with the skyrocketing levels of foster care indicate childhood trauma is becoming all too common. NFP’s critically important standards, require nurses’ caseloads remain under 30. Therefore, the current program needs to grow significantly from serving 62 families with 2.5 nurses building trusting life changing relationships with several hundred Billings families annually.
ALTERNATIVES
City Council may:
- Approve; or,
- Not Approve
FISCAL EFFECTS
The agreement has an annual expense of $198,966. The adopted budget included $200,000 for this purpose out of the crime prevention fund.
SUMMARY
The enclosed agreement invests $200,000 annually in a partnership with Riverstone Health to expand the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program. The contract is for three (3) years with one, two (2) year extension. "Either party may terminate this agreement ... without cause, by providing the other party ninety (90) days' written notice of termination." NFP is one of the most respected, rigorously analyzed, effective programs and is strongly supported by the US Justice Department.