An independent evaluation says Community of Hope’s HONEY program in Washington, D.C., is linked to significantly lower rates of preterm birth among pregnant people experiencing homelessness. The mixed-methods review of the program’s first two years credits relationship-centered perinatal care coordination and housing navigation as key reasons for the gains, landing at a moment when city officials are under pressure to close persistent racial gaps in maternal and infant health, as per Optum.
The study, carried out by the George Washington University Center for Excellence in Maternal and Child Health, reviewed outcomes for participants from November 2023 through September 2025. Researchers reported that HONEY participants had “much lower rates of preterm birth” than comparable Medicaid-funded births in the District and across the country. The team combined administrative data with interviews of clients, staff and partners to understand both the results and how the model actually worked on the ground.
Launched in late 2023, HONEY teams up perinatal care coordinators with housing case managers to connect pregnant people to prenatal visits, transportation, baby supplies and shelter supports. The effort is backed by HRSA’s Quality Improvement Fund and private partners including Optum and the Bezos Day One Families Fund. HRSA’s impact report and an Optum case study describe the collaborative funding and measurement strategy behind the pilot, which embeds navigators in the city’s family-intake system so referrals move faster and barriers to care stay lower.
How HONEY works
The program offers flexible, relationship-centered support from pregnancy through six months postpartum. Perinatal care coordinators help clients schedule appointments, arrange rides, get safe-sleep education and secure basic supplies so that medical visits do not fall through the cracks. The evaluation underscores that meeting immediate survival needs like food, transportation and housing navigation tends to create the stability needed for consistent prenatal care.
In a statement, HONEY Program Director Morgan Carrillo said the initiative is "designed to meet people where they are and stay with them during one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives," according to Community of Hope.
Participants and scale
Participants told reporters that HONEY’s navigation and wraparound supports eased day-to-day pressures so they could actually focus on prenatal care and follow-up. One mother, T’roya Jackson, told WUSA9 she felt overwhelmed while pregnant until the program helped her family find shelter and line up medical care and food assistance. WUSA9 also reported that the program has reached hundreds of moms and supported a little over 200 babies, and program officials say HONEY is offered at no cost to eligible participants.
Why it matters
Preterm birth and low birthweight are still major drivers of infant mortality in the District, and Black mothers face substantially higher rates than white mothers, according to DC Health’s 2025 Perinatal Health and Infant Mortality Report. That report and related local initiatives emphasize earlier prenatal engagement and coordinated perinatal support, the same core strategies HONEY leans on, suggesting the pilot could offer a roadmap for reducing preterm births among families living with housing instability.
Community of Hope is hosting a webinar on April 17 to walk through implementation lessons for providers and policymakers, and the organization continues to accept donations and baby supplies to keep the program stocked. Program leaders say HONEY’s mix of low-barrier, high-touch care coordination plus housing navigation could be a practical tool for lowering preterm births in communities where unstable housing makes healthy pregnancies much harder to sustain.
