About Us

The Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade, Inc. was incorporated on April 3, 2001 and serves as part of a statewide network of community-based organizations to reduce Florida’s high infant mortality and improve the lives of pregnant women and their families.

The Coalition is responsible for the establishment and oversight of the Miami-Dade Healthy Start system, which includes directing local, state and federal funding and provides oversight to local community organizations that deliver direct services to pregnant women and families of newborns, continuous care coordination to pregnant women and children birth to age three, evaluating services and the needs of the community, and quality assurance and improvement responsibilities.

At the Coalition, we promote that every baby gets a Healthy Start in life!

The organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and is responsible for Miami-Dade County. Also, the coalition is also a member of the Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalition’s, which affords the ability to work alongside a statewide group of Coalitions geared in achieving the Healthy Start program’s overall goals.

The Coalition is comprised of more than 150 members representing consumers, physicians, local government, business, social services, education, civic organizations, public health, nurses, local medical societies, mental health, hospitals, local health planning agencies and midwifery throughout the county and the surrounding areas. Standing committees of various areas of interest (i.e. Best Practice, Data, FIMR, Board of Directors, etc.) conduct the organization’s activities.
One of 32 community-based maternal and child health groups in the state, the Coalition is supported by the Florida Department of Health, Agency for Health Care Administration, The University of Miami Jasmine Project, The Children’s Trust, and the generosity of the community via donations, grants, and other funding sources. Overall, the Coalition is responsible for approximately 10 million dollars on an annual basis. More than 90 percent of this funding is used to provide direct services to at-risk pregnant women, infants and families through contracts with community providers, MomCare, the Fetal & Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) Project, the Jasmine Project, a federal Healthy Start initiative to reduce disparities in birth outcomes, Nurse-Family Partnership and the Health Connect in the Early Years Program. Remaining resources support planning, administration, and community-based initiatives.