Kathy Goes to Washington

Earlier this month, Bright Start Assistant Program Director Kathy Schneider attended the 2025 Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) Policy and Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C. She spent her days training with senior management of the National Advocacy of NFP and on Capitol Hill educating Congress on the importance of Nurse-Family Partnership Home Visits and the impact of the services on families. One of the key discussion points she shared was how the life-changing work we do would not be possible without continued funding from the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program and Medicaid funding.

“Attending this Summit was such an empowering opportunity,” said Kathy. “Not only did I enjoy sharing my experiences as a nurse, but I also had the chance to listen to the stories of NFP Parent Ambassadors. The power behind a client’s story is incredible.”

During the meetings, Ambassadors spoke about their experiences with programs like Bright Start and shared the impact of how personal nurses affected their lives and their families.

Kathy said her biggest takeaway from the trip was realizing how important it was to reach out to our legislators and educate them on our services.

“The more our lawmakers know about maternal and infant health deserts, reducing the maternal and infant mortality rate and learning about the services we provide, the better they can understand the importance of Medicaid and MIECHV funding,” explained Kathy.

Knowledge is power and that is exactly what Kathy plans to provide this summer.

“I plan to invite South Dakota Legislators for a site visit and meet some of our outstanding Bright Start staff,” said Kathy. “I’m also hoping to line up a Bright Start family to speak so they can hear first-hand about the impact our services have in South Dakota.”

Thank you, Kathy, for representing CHS and explaining to our lawmakers why our services are so important!

Kathy spent an entire day on Capitol Hill educating members of Congress about the impact of our services on real SD families.

Kathy had the opportunity to train with senior management of the National Advocacy of NFP, meet NFP Parent Ambassadors and listen to how having a personal nurse impacted their families’ lives.