Perigee Fund

Perigee Fund is excited to announce the recipients of our first national RFP! The “Building Together: Equitable Systems for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Mental Health” grant will allocate $2.5 million over two years to fund systems change so more prenatal-to-age-3 families can access mental health support. Each recipient submitted an outstanding proposal that was clearly shaped and driven by voices of families. Meet Perigee Fund’s Building Together Grantees! - Birth Justice Collaborative (Minnesota)  - Early Childhood Development Health Systems Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program, IECMH Consultation Subgroup (ECCS-HIPP) (Hawai’i)  - EleVATE Collaborative (Missouri) - Excel by Eight Foundations Collaborative (Arkansas) - Geaux Far Louisiana  - Georgia Infant-Toddler Coalition  - Montana Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative  - Portland Metro Region Perinatal Collaborative (Oregon) - South Carolina Prenatal to 3 Team  - Think Babies Michigan Congratulations to our new Partners! We would also like to thank our our External Review Committee members including: Andrea Clark Horton, Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color, Postpartum Support International; Chandra Ghosh Ippen, UCSF Child Trauma Research Program, Child Parent Psychotherapy Dissemination Team; Dominique Charlot-Swilley, Ph.D., Georgetown University Center for Child & Human Development; Jacinta “Jacy” Montoya Price, Alliance for Early Success; Jennifer Oppenheim, Oppenheim Consulting; Stephanie Rubin, Texans Care for Children. Learn more - https://lnkd.in/gVxWy2qQ #PerigeeFund #BuildingTogether #EndIntergenerationalTrauma #maternalmentalhealth #infantandearlychildhoodmentalhealth #infantmentalhealth #earlyrelationships #iecmh #systemschange

A special “Thank You” to those who are advancing systems change to ensure parents, babies, and toddlers thrive. When families are supported equitably, parents and their children can more easily tap into the transformational power of connection, healing, hope, and joy. #PerigeeFund #EndIntergenerationalTrauma #maternalmentalhealth #infantandearlychildhoodmentalhealth

The Washington State Parent Ambassador Program is an advocacy and leadership training program designed to support parents and grandparents in utilizing their knowledge and experiences to effect policy change. The ambassadors participate in 150 hours of training on legislative advocacy, racial equity and justice, leadership, communications, grassroots organizing, and financial literacy. Since its launch in 2009, the Parent Ambassadors have had a direct impact on policy changes at the state and federal levels. “Sharing my story with powerful elected officials and being vulnerable and seeing the impact I had first-hand was something I never thought I would experience in my lifetime” says Maya Washington, a 2021 Parent Ambassador. Perigee Fund is proud to have provided grant support to the Parent Ambassador program over four years. The funding enabled the program to increase staff, better support parents, engage in more national networks, and conduct evaluations to ensure continuous improvement. https://lnkd.in/gjXChwxS #PerigeeFundGranteeSpotlight #ParentAmbassador #earlychildhoodeducation

Help us grow our network! Perigee Fund invests in systems change to ensure that during pregnancy and early childhood, more families receive healing programs, services, and resources that protect and nurture their unfolding relationships. While our deepest investments have been in Washington state, we are opening up funding opportunities for groups across the U.S. 📝Sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on Perigee news and funding opportunities! 👉🏼Share this post with your networks! https://lnkd.in/gDYu487r #PerigeeFund #MMHNews #PerinatalMentalHealth

Over five years, CARE Fund will invest $50 million in a push for universal publicly supported care infrastructures. The five-year investment will aid economies, improve the well-being of kids and families, create millions of jobs, promote equity, and provide older adults and people living with disabilities with more independence. Perigee Fund partners with organizations whose work advances the fields of infant and early childhood mental health and maternal mental health, and advances the capacity for all prenatal-to-3 families to experience healthy, joyful connections with the support of more time, money, care, and connection. We are so proud to have supported the CARE Fund! #CAREFund

Perigee Fund seeks a Director of Communications to join our Leadership Team! The Director of Communications will possess a deep commitment to Perigee Fund’s mission of equitable systems change and be able to identify and implement strategic communications activities that contribute to change in the prenatal-to-age-3 mental health field. The Director of Communications will maintain and elevate Perigee Fund’s positioning, shape narrative, lead projects, provide communications support to staff and external partners, and determine messaging and communications channels. Highlights of the role include: ― Refine the early communications framework and develop the vision for the Fund’s communications strategy ― Provide communications expertise, guidance and tactical execution support to Program Team members ― Partner with the Founder to write and edit communications and support thought leadership ― Collaborate with the Leadership Team to establish and continuously improve effective communications and knowledge sharing Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/gZjMZEwq #DirectorofCommunications #Hiring

A baby’s well-being starts with the family's well-being, but families often face obstacles to finding #mentalhealth support. It may take months for them to see a mental health specialist and even longer to find a caregiver that aligns with their cultural needs or speaks their language. The Family Leadership Certificate Program at Georgetown University trains individuals as Community Mental Health Workers by equipping them with trauma-informed skills that will effectively support the mental health of families. The addition of this new job classification will expand the Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health (#IECMH) workforce. “Our goal is to diversify mental health and public health spaces and to make them more equitable,” says Arrealia Gavins, Faculty Lecturer with the Family Leadership Certificate Program. Perigee Fund is proud to have supported the planning and design of the program, which is working to bring greater access to mental health care and relationship-based support for families impacted by trauma.  Thank you to Arrealia and Dominique Charlot-Swilley, Ph.D. for taking the time to speak with us about this important program! https://lnkd.in/ghT-8Fak

Clinical trials and studies have demonstrated both short-term and sustained benefits to families after engaging in CPP: One study showed that children participating in CPP demonstrate significantly greater improvements in traumatic stress symptoms and behavior problems than comparison group children, and mothers demonstrate a significant reduction in trauma symptoms when compared with a control group. Data also showed that for children with four or more traumatic experiences, CPP significantly reduced traumatic stress symptoms to a greater degree than comparison group children. A new study shows that CPP can reduce the impact of trauma on cellular aging, which is associated with health problems such as cancer and heart disease. This study further confirms the benefits of CPP and highlights the importance of interrupting trauma in children’s earliest years. #ZT3 #childparentpsychotherapy #CPP #trauma #relationships

Are you attending the ZERO TO THREE LEARN conference this week? Would love to connect, and if you are there on Wednesday, I'll be facilitating a panel with two incredible Perigee Fund grantees, Dr. Eva Marie Shivers, and Dr. Nancy Byatt. Come hear their unique perspective on the future of Prenatal-to-5 mental health consultation!

Members from our team are heading down to Long Beach, California to attend the ZERO TO THREE LEARN Conference July 31st to August 1st! Our Program Officer Kimberly Gilsdorf is facilitating a panel on Future Possibilities in Prenatal-to-5 Mental Health Consultation with speakers (and Perigee Fund grantees) Dr. Eva Marie Shivers of the Indigo Cultural Center and Dr. Nancy Byatt with UMass Medical School. If you are in attendance we look forward to meeting and learning from one another! #zerotothreeconference #LEARNwithZTT #prenatalmentalhealth