Nation's First Birth and Family Center to be Launched in D.C. June 28
Contact: Ann Brown, 301-986-5458, Carrie Collins, 202-537-9166,
or Annmarie Edwards, 301-754-1999
News Advisory:
The nation's first birth and family center will be launched in the District of Columbia on Monday, June 28, at 11 a.m.
Mayor Anthony Williams and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton will participate in a ceremony to announce the founding of the DC Developing Families Center (DCDFC) and kick off renovation of a long vacant former Safeway supermarket building -- located in Northeast Washington -- that will serve as home to the center. The building was donated by Hechinger Enterprises.
The DC Developing Families Center will offer a wide range of services under one roof to meet the physical, social, intellectual and emotional needs of childbearing and childrearing families primarily in the District's Wards 5 and 6.
Founded in large part to address the staggeringly high infant mortality rates among low-income families in this part of the city, the DCDFC will include the District's first Birth Center. Birth Centers, staffed by certified nurse-midwives, promote self-reliance by encouraging pregnant women and their families to play active roles in their prenatal care and birthing. Howard University Hospital's
physicians will provide consultation and back-up to this cost-effective, innovative service.
Along with the Birth Center, the DCDFC will house the Healthy Babies Project and be an additional site for the National Child Day Care Association, which will offer neighborhood-based day care, after school programs, job training, male mentoring and much more.
--
EVENT:
Launch of the DC Developing Families Center: the Nation's First Comprehensive Birth and Family Facility
DATE/TIME:
Monday, June 28, at 11 a.m.
LOCATION:
801 17th Street, NE (The "Old Safeway" building across from Hechinger Mall)
SPEAKERS:
-- Mayor Anthony Williams
-- Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton
-- Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, former secretary of Health and Human Services, president of Morehouse School of Medicine
-- Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., CEO, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
-- John W. Hechinger Sr., representing the Hechinger and England families
-- Dr. Ruth Watson Lubic, president and co-CEO, DC Developing Families Center
OTHER PARTICIPANTS:
-- Dr. Linda A. Randolph, Co-CEO, DC Developing Families Center
-- Travis H. Hardmon, Executive Director, National Child Day Care Association
-- Dolores L. Farr, Executive Director and President, Healthy Babies Project
-- Dr. Marlene N. Kelley, interim director, D.C. Dept. of Health
-0-
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
RSS