Parents as Teachers National Center (PAT) has announced a $1.04 million grant from the Bezos Family Foundation in support of programs aimed at strengthening families and promoting positive child development outcomes.

The grant includes $790,000, distributed over three years, to help fund a pilot program to integrate doula support services into PAT’s evidence-based home visiting model serving more than 186,000 families across the United States. The remaining $250,000, distributed over two years, will bolster PAT’s National Home Visiting Coalition—which works to expand access to home visit programs nationwide—while the group pursues strategies to maximize federal and other funding sources.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Bezos Family Foundation for this generous investment in family well-being,” said PAT president Constance Gully. “Combining our model with skilled doula care has great potential to improve maternal and child health, increase breastfeeding success, facilitate secure parent-child bonding, and more.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Andrey Popov)