Project NAF: Nurturing Asheville & Area Families

From left to right: Shari Smith, (Project NAF Outreach Worker), Tahra Williams, (Project NAF Participant), Darlene Fore Buncombe County Health Center, Ladies Night Out, and Christy Price (Helpmate).

African American babies die at 2.4 times the rate of white babies before their first birthday.

Project NAF (Nurturing Asheville and Area Families) was developed to increase the quality of prenatal care and to decrease the rate of infant mortality and low birth weight for African American women in Buncombe County.

These goals are addressed through the provision of supportive services, access to important health care treatment and working to reduce racial disparities in maternal and infant care.

The program also focuses on providing community wide education on the problems of minority infant mortality, the devastating effects of inadequate folic acid the need for preconceptual and interconceptual care, and the benefits of breastfeeding.

The program seeks to enhance the support for African American women
throughout their pregnancies and their infant’s first 18 months of life
in a culturally sensitive and individualized manner. Simply put, the
goal of Project NAF is for minority babies to have a healthy first year
of life and beyond. These services have been provided since 1998.

Project NAF believes in the power of collaboration and
networking. Throughout its history, this program has maintained
cooperative ties with area agencies and programs to achieve its goals.
Collaboration may be defined as a mutually beneficial relationship that
is well-defined and entered into by two or more groups to achieve a
common goal(s).

This collaborative relationship includes a commitment to a
mutual relationship and goals and shared responsibility for reaching
its goals and the sharing of resources and rewards. Collaborative Goal:
Reducing Minority Infant Mortality.

Project NAF receives funding from the Department of Health &
Human Service’s (DHHS) Healthy Beginnings Project and additional
funding from the DHHS’s Office of Minority Health & Health
Disparities to undertake a collaborative effort to use concerted
efforts to address health disparity gaps among African American and
other minorities in N. C. by providing enhanced education and outreach
to minority populations. Project NAF’s educational focus: minority
infant mortality, breast cancer education, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS.

Since November 2008, Project NAF has implemented a series of
skill-building events to enhance education and outreach to minority
populations. These activities have been coordinated by Shari Smith,
Project NAF Outreach Worker. Shari has been providing services through
the Project NAF Program since 2005. The following educational series
have been provided this fiscal year:

November 2008
Educational Activity: Preconception and Interconception Care.
Speaker: Ms. Diane Rogers, Environmental Control Analyst with M & M Testing & Balancing

December 2008
Educational Activity: Stress Management through Yoga Exercises.
Speaker: Ms. Leslie Frerree, Yoga Therapist with Mission Hospitals System

January 2009
Educational Activity: Empowerment Through Continuing Education.
Speaker: Ms. Alma Fisher,
Human Resource Development Instructor, A-B Tech

February 2009
Educational Activity:
Breast Cancer Awareness.
Speaker: Ms. Darlene Fore, Breast and Cervical Cancer Control &
Wise Woman Program’s Ladies Night Coordinator, Buncombe County Health
Department

March 2009
Educational Activity:
Domestic Violence.
Speaker: Ms. Christy Price,
Outreach Coordinator, Helpmate
Ms. Tahra Williams, Project NAF participant, has been attending these
educational series. Tahra stated:, “I like it because I have learned a
lot by coming. A lot of things I didn’t know before, I know now.” Tahra
relates she has incorporated knowledge from these events into her daily
life.
Darlene Fore, with the Buncombe County Health Department stated, “We
are public health and I get paid for doing things that I love every
day.” In elaborating on these collaborative educational activities,
Darlene stated, “You build relationships with the community, and l have
learned a lot from them (the participants), and they have challenged
me. They were great.”

These educational series have been provided to heighten
community awareness so that program participants will be even more
knowledgeable about community resources, to aim for and make healthier
lifestyle choices for themselves and for their families, and to “Be A
Better Me.” Christy Price of Helpmate states, “All of us at Helpmate
appreciate the opportunity to create and increase awareness about
Helpmate’s free and confidential services and to be able to educate the
community about domestic violence”.

In addition to the aforementioned services and the
skill-building activities, Project NAF continues to provide the
following services to monthly contacts: accompanying participants to
prenatal, well-baby and sick baby visits, WIC and other medical
appointments; conducting education sessions for health providers on
culturally sensitive provision of services; radio broadcasts via WRES
100.7 Asheville; baby clothing; bus tickets; car seats; games; parties;
food and fun.

In one of the most recent skill-building activities, two
participants won a free makeover (inclusive of a free “hair-do” and
makeover), courtesy of Ms. Kidada Holloway and Mrs. Trina Jackson,
Cosmetology Instructor at Asheville High School.

Project NAF wholeheartedly thanks the N. C. Department of Health
& Human Services Division of Public Health’s Healthy Beginnings
Project, the Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities, and
Buncombe County for providing funding for this project. Project NAF is
a program of the Mount Zion Community Development, Inc.
For additional information, please contact Belinda K. Grant at (828) 350-9821 or Shari Smith at (828) 225-8155.

Email [email protected] or visit www.mtzionasheville.org.