HCAM’s Partnership with Baltimore City Judy Centers: Connecting Community Members to Resources

HCAM’s Partnership with Baltimore City Judy Centers: Connecting Community Members to Resources

HealthCare Access Maryland’s (HCAM) Care Coordination Program (CCP) is an outreach program that provides short-term care coordination services to Baltimore City residents. One key component of the Care Coordination Program is the work the program does to improve birth outcomes in Baltimore City. The CCP team does this with innovative prenatal outreach strategies that strive to protect our city’s most vulnerable populations by providing access to health services and community resources. Learn more about HCAM’s partnership with Judy Centers throughout Baltimore City and how programs within these centers are providing services to pregnant and postpartum women.

HCAM’s Maternal Child Health (MCH) Initiatives Team strives to improve birth outcomes for infants and their mothers and reduce racial disparities in infant mortality through our work with B’More for Healthy Babies. Using creative and aggressive outreach strategies, the MCH Initiatives Team provides risk assessment and care coordination for pregnant people otherwise lost to the Centralized Intake System. A vital part of our outreach efforts is our partnership with community organizations throughout Baltimore City. HCAM initiated a partnership with one of those essential community partners, in July 2020, with the kickoff of the Judy Center MCH Initiative.

Judith P. Hoyer Center Early Learning Hubs, also known as “Judy Centers”, help prepare children age birth through kindergarten for school readiness. Located throughout the state at Title I schools, Judy Centers are a vital source of linkages and resources for the communities they serve. Judy Centers are staffed by early learning professionals who, alongside a variety of community partners, help to prepare children and their families for success in school and life.

Baltimore City is home to twelve Judy Centers, and HCAM is proud to partner with five of them as part of the Judy Center MCH Initiative. As part of this partnership, HCAM Community Health Advocates (CHA) are embedded in each of these five communities. In addition to their traditional outreach work, they have developed deep and lasting relationships with their Judy Center partners and clients, through regular attendance at Judy Center events and activities and hosting their own educational events.

CHAs embedded at Judy Center’s focus on increasing awareness of Adverse Child Experiences (ACEs) and connecting women and families to HCAM Central Intake and B’More for Healthy Babies, Safe Sleep education, WIC, Home Visiting, Infants and Toddlers program, Managed Care Organization (MCO) Prenatal programs, MCO Chronic disease case management, Family Planning and Contraceptive Counseling, Baby Basics, and other community resources. Their goal is to connect 1,000 pregnant and postpartum women to HCAM care coordination annually and engage an additional 250 pregnant and post-partum women in group-based ACEs events and other community outreach activities.

A client at the Arlington Judy Center said “What I like about the Judy Center is that they help a whole lot with nice giveaways and pull ups. I love the Judy Center’s social media too because it lists a lot of useful things not just for me, but information that I can pass along to other people as well.”

HCAM Community Health Advocates and Judy Centers are uniquely positioned to support Maryland’s youngest learners by empowering a child’s first teacher— their families. Through various family engagement activities, such as playgroups and other family education events, together our CHAs and their Judy Center partners help families to learn new ways to engage with their children and with community support networks.  

Judy Centers provide services and connect families with local service providers for some of the following services and community resources:  

  • Adult Education  
  • Case Management  
  • Care Coordination
  • Developmental and Health Screenings
  • Family Engagement Activities
  • Parenting Classes (such as Baby Basics)
  • Playgroups 

To enroll in HCAM MCH Care Coordination and learn more about offerings available at your local Judy Center, clients can contact self-refer using the MCH Judy Center Self-Referral Form.

HCAM’s Current MCH Initiatives partnered Judy Centers:

  • Judy Center at Arlington – 3705 W Rogers Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215 – (410) 396-0567  
  • Judy Center at Commodore John Rogers – 100 N Chester Street, Baltimore, MD 21231 – (401) 396-3900 
  • Judy Center at Curtis Bay – W. Bay Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21225 – (410) 396-1397  
  • Judy Center at Harford Heights – 1919 North Broadway, Baltimore MD 21213 
  • Judy Center at Moravia – Moravia Park Elementary #105, 6201 Frankford Ave, Baltimore, MD 21206 – (410) 361-9786 

Community Health Advocates are leading Baby Basics Moms Clubs at Harford Heights Judy Center on April 7th, 21, 28th and May 5th and Moravia Judy Center on 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/20, 6/1, with a closing celebration on 6/10. For more information, or to register, please contact Shakia Graves at sgraves@hcamaryland.org or (443) 925-9384 to register with the Moravia Judy Center (https://linktr.ee/moraviajudycenter) or Angela Cole at acole@hcamaryland.org or (443) 835-7458 to register for the Harford Heights Judy Center groups. 

HCAM is actively seeking new staff to join our MCH Initiatives Team and Community Health Advocates. Click here for more information and to apply to the Community Health Advocate position. 

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