Don Howard, Farah Husain, and Jehan Velji

In a country starved for solutions to intractable social problems, a proven program tends to garner a great deal of attention. Accordingly, the pressure to grow – and grow quickly – can be intense. Will the path you choose lead your organization towards its long-term goals?

Heading into 2003, Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) was one of these in-demand programs. The 26-year old organization had developed a scientifically-proven model for improving the lives of low-income, first-time mothers and their children. Satisfying requests from agencies interested in implementing the program had taken NFP to 22 states, with a scattering of nearly 150 sites serving over 12,000 mothers.

But NFP’s leadership had an even more ambitious vision in mind: making NFP’s proven model available to every low-income, first-time mother in the country. They set out to take a more purposeful approach to growth and to build an organization focused on developing a national presence.

www.nursefamilypartnership.org