The March of Dimes is working toward a future when all children will be born healthy. We offer health information to moms, and we help comfort families if something goes wrong. We research the problems that threaten our babies and work on preventing them. Despite a very challenging and volatile economy, which caused our operating revenue to decline, the March of Dimes was financially stable and finished the year with a balanced budget. Thanks to the millions of volunteers and donors who supported our mission, we were able to achieve many results:
- We awarded more than $20 million for research grants focused on better understanding, and eventually preventing, birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.
- Due to March of Dimes advocacy, states can now enroll pregnant women in Children’s Health Insurance Programs and measure the quality of Medicaid pediatric and perinatal care. Our advocacy also strengthened federal support for newborn screening and secured new funding for prematurity and birth defects programs.
- We expanded March of Dimes NICU Family Support® to 94 hospital locations, providing services to more than 75,000 families in communities across the country.
- We reached out to women through a variety of media channels on urgent health topics like the importance of folic acid, H1N1 flu shots and the risks of early elective c-sections or inductions.
- More than 200 businesses now offer our workplace wellness program, Healthy Babies Healthy Business®, to their employees. And because of our mom-friendly workplace, we were included in the prestigious 2009 Working Mother 100 Best Companies list.
We released a white paper with the first global estimates of preterm birth and made the case that premature birth is a global crisis — 13 million babies are born too soon each year, and 1 million die.
Thank you for making our work possible. Your commitment ultimately means more babies will be born healthy.
Dr. Jennifer L. Howse
President |
Kenneth A. May
Chair of the Board |
The March of Dimes is proud to offer a mom- and family-friendly work environment. We value diversity and are an equal opportunity employer.
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