Right From The Start Program

The West Virginia Department of Health, Bureau for Public Health, Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health, through the West Virginia Home Visitation Program, is offering funding for West Virginia Home Visitation Program Regional Lead Agencies under AFA START-DH-2027. The opportunity supports the Right From The Start Program, a statewide home visitation initiative developed through collaboration between state Medicaid and maternal and child health programs to improve access to prenatal care and supportive services for low-income women and infants. Right From The Start provides comprehensive services to Medicaid maternal clients and infants, including care coordination and enhanced prenatal care services, and also serves West Virginia Children's Health Insurance Program maternal clients and infants. Services use the Partners for a Healthy Baby curriculum and address prenatal health, parenting, child health and development, infant mental health, economic self-sufficiency, family stability, healthy lifestyles, and well-being. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to select Regional Lead Agencies to provide administrative oversight for the management of care coordination and enhanced prenatal care services in accordance with Right From The Start policies and procedures. Eight service regions collectively cover West Virginia. Regional Lead Agencies are expected to build and manage relationships with clinical and community partners, promote correct use of prenatal risk screening tools, expand the provider network, provide technical assistance, maintain provider information, conduct community outreach, and collaborate with other home visitation supervisors. Regional Care Coordinators must also recruit, supervise, train, and support Designated Care Coordinator provider agencies, conduct required site visits and chart audits, provide reflective practices, manage referrals and enrollment, and work with the State Office to implement evidence-based practices aligned with the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. Performance requirements include quarterly, monthly, and annual activities and measurable improvement targets. Examples include annual visits to practicing obstetrical providers, quarterly community outreach, quarterly Designated Care Coordinator agency visits, monthly reflective practices, quarterly chart audits, timely technical assistance, processing all unique client referrals, and maintaining compliance with program data-collection standards. Tier 2 targets include increasing medical-provider referrals by 30 percent from the FY2025 baseline, recruiting at least one Designated Care Coordinator Provider Agency in the region, achieving 80 percent agency compliance under the Quality Assurance Tool, increasing enrolled clients by at least 20 percent, increasing incoming referral acceptance by at least 10 percent, and improving specified safe-sleep, breastfeeding, and tobacco-cessation referral measures. Funding is based on an approved budget for the one-year period from September 30, 2026 through September 29, 2027. Funds are provided through a Department of Health subrecipient grant agreement, with potential annual renewal based on performance and program success. The announcement identifies Medicaid and state funds as ongoing funding sources but does not state a total program funding amount, individual award floor, individual award ceiling, or number of awards. FY2027 Target Funding Budget allocations are to be processed by email and remain subject to appropriation and availability of state and/or federal funds. Reasonable non-recurring startup costs may be requested through a separate startup Target Funding Budget and budget narrative. The award uses a schedule-of-payment multiple-reconciliation reimbursement structure, and expenditures must be incurred during the approved project period. Applicable costs are subject to 2 CFR 200 requirements. No applicant cost-share or matching requirement is stated. The announcement's Key Dates and Other Information section identifies eligible applicants as nonprofit organizations or coalitions licensed to operate as businesses in West Virginia and registered as state vendors. A later Legal Requirements section more broadly describes eligible applicants as public or private organizations with a valid West Virginia business license and/or units of local government and permits vendor registration to be completed before award or supported by proof of application. Applicants must also meet award-stage registration requirements, including SAM.gov registration and active registration with the West Virginia Secretary of State. Because the source contains these differently worded eligibility statements, applicants should review both requirements when determining eligibility. Organizations applying for more than one of the eight regions must identify the regions and develop a budget reflecting the multiple-region scope. Applications must be submitted through the WVOASIS Vendor Self-Service Portal, and the announcement additionally instructs applicants to submit the required AFA documents through the centralized email process at DHHRBPHGrants@wv.gov. Required application materials include a Proposal Narrative addressing proposed outcomes and organizational and Right From The Start experience; a Detailed Line-Item Budget; a Budget Narrative-Justification; applicable Target Funding Budgets submitted in Excel; a signed Subrecipient Information Form, DHHR Finance A-1000; and a Grantee Contact List containing at least two contacts covering applicable administrative, financial, project/program, and reporting responsibilities. Proposal scoring includes 35 points for proposed outcomes, 40-45 points for Right From The Start and organizational experience, and 20 points for the Detailed Line-Item Budget and Budget Narrative. West Virginia Home Visitation Program administrative staff review submissions for completeness and accuracy and score the application components according to the stated point values. The opportunity was released August 13, 2026, and applications close September 11, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT. The solicitation form independently confirms an August 13, 2026 issue date and September 11, 2026 at 23:59 solicitation close. The approved grant project period is September 30, 2026 through September 29, 2027. The source does not provide a separate award notification date or establish that the funding competition itself recurs annually; the potential annual renewal language applies to funded grant agreements. The WVOASIS coordinator is Right From the Start, with contact email jackie.j.newson@wv.gov and phone 304-414-0648. Following processing, selected grantees receive a grant agreement for signature from Department of Health Grants Management. Invoice and reconciliation templates are supplied after the signed grant agreement is finalized.

Directly connect proposed activities to the RFTS Statement of Work, individual RLA workplans and measurable performance objectives. Demonstrate organizational capacity, RFTS experience and experience managing federal funds and DH subrecipient agreements. Ensure the Detailed Line-Item Budget and Budget Narrative correspond closely and specifically justify each line item. Review submissions for completeness and accuracy because WVHVP administrative staff score the stated application components.