This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, evaluates the feasibility of a modified church-based home visiting program that aims to align medical, public health, and social service systems for families with children while also dismantling forms of structural racism that can create barriers to access. The program is delivered by Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton New Jersey, a predominantly Black congregation, and will integrate the research-based HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) framework into the program. The study includes a racial equity needs assessment conducted with church leaders and congregants, the development and testing of training content designed to help families and faith leaders implement child development practices, and a quality improvement process conducted that introduces new racial equity and child development practices into the existing program. The study also develops evaluation measures for use in a subsequent randomized trial to evaluate the impact of the revised home visiting program. The study is conducted by Tufts Medical Center in collaboration with FAAITH and Shiloh Baptist Church, Capitol County Children’s Collaborative, the Children’s Home Society of New Jersey, Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey, Henry J. Austin Health Center, Central Jersey Family Health Consortium, the City of Trenton, the Capital Health System, and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton.

Principal Investigators

• Allison Stephens, PhD, Director of Networks and Policy at the Center for Community-Engaged Medicine, Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) at Tufts Medical Center
• Rev. Darrell Armstrong, MDiv, EdS, Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church of Trenton and President and CEO at Shiloh Community Development Corporation

Research Team

• Laura Gallant, MSW, Research Associate at the Center for Community-Engaged Medicine, Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) at Tufts Medical Center
• Amber Robinson, Parent Leader and Advocate at the Center for Community-Engaged Medicine, Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) at Tufts Medical Center