The Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family catalyzes BMC's vision of rewriting healthcare and ensuring all children and families thrive by creating change at practice, system, and policy levels; actively promoting health equity; and eradicating disparities. As an innovation hub within the Department of Pediatrics, the Center’s mission is to incubate, implement, evaluate, and support practice transformations by partnering with clinicians, families, communities, and other child- and family-serving sectors. ## Our History and Impact BMC Pediatrics has launched some of the world's most important and widely disseminated care innovations, including Reach Out and Read, Medical-Legal Partnership, Healthy Steps, StreetCred, and the Health by Wealth Collective. In 2016, we launched the Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family to revolutionize the model of care for pediatric patients and their families, standing at the epicenter of clinical care, innovation, research, and the community. #### 6,500+ Reach Out and Read Programs Founded Established nationwide, these programs empower families to read together, which supports early learning, healthy brain development, and strong family bonds. #### 450+ Institutions with Medical-Legal Partnerships These collaborations bring lawyers into healthcare settings to resolve health-harming legal issues and strengthen community well-being. #### 35 Health by Wealth Members in 11 States Health by Wealth improves health and well-being in disadvantaged communities, reducing inequality through strategic, community-based programs. ## Innovation in Action Today Every day, our pediatric programs put innovation into practice, designing new models of care that meet families where they are and address the full spectrum of health, social, and economic needs. Practice Transformation System and Policy Transformation Developmental and Behavioral Health Substance Use Disorder Practice Transformation System and Policy Transformation Developmental and Behavioral Health Substance Use Disorder ### The Grow Clinic for Children Primarily serving low-income, medically complex, and nutritionally at-risk children, [the Grow Clinic](/node/174404) provides a multidisciplinary approach to treat children with failure to thrive (FTT), offering assessments and treatment from physicians, dietitians, social workers, and more. In addition to providing clinical services, the GROW Clinic advocates for policies that decrease the number of children in need. ### The EASE Clinic The [EASE (Engagement and Access to Special Education) Clinic](/node/127311) was created to fill a critical gap: most pediatricians lack the time or training to guide families through complex special-education systems. EASE delivers coordinated legal, clinical, and educational advocacy to ensure children receive fully supported, rights-aligned individualized education plans (IEPs). ### PILOT This unique care delivery model uses a human-centered, family-driven design that integrates social work and community wellness advocates. Care delivery extends beyond other early childhood models to include economic mobility as core to addressing health-related social needs. ### StreetCred and Health by Wealth Collective This [collective](/node/174964) builds economic mobility and health equity by leveraging trust in and access to healthcare, redesigning pediatric primary care—which reaches 90 percent of children each year—to include economic wellbeing services. ### Children's Health Watch Headquartered at BMC, [Children’s HealthWatch](https://childrenshealthwatch.org/) is a nonpartisan network of pediatricians, public health researchers, and children’s health and policy experts. The mission of Children’s HealthWatch is to achieve health equity for young children and their families by advancing research to transform policy. ### Curbside Care This initiative provides [comprehensive mother-infant dyadic care](/node/177294) during the first six weeks of life on Boston Medical Center’s Mobile Unit—right outside our patients' doors! ### The Autism Program This [multidisciplinary, multi-tiered, comprehensive, and culturally competent program](/node/117901) is uniquely equipped to meet the complex needs of patients and families by assisting and empowering autistic individuals and their families through direct patient support, provider education, and community-based outreach. ### Neurodivergent Urban Youth (NUY) Clinic This [clinic](/node/176537) brings together experts from Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Neurology, and Psychiatry within an interdisciplinary, comprehensive care model to support people ages 14 to 24 with neurodevelopmental conditions. ### Child Trauma and Resilience Network (CTRN) CTRN, a [collaborative effort](/node/177565) among three leading BMC programs, offers trauma-informed therapy for children and youth impacted by experiences such as domestic violence, community violence, family disruption, and other significant challenges. These treatments are tailored to meet each child’s unique needs and designed to foster safety, resilience, and empowerment. ### Supporting Our Families through Addiction and Recovery (SOFAR) [SOFAR](/node/123686) is a medical home within the pediatric primary care clinic for children whose parent(s) have a substance use disorder. The program provides ongoing support for families by fostering attachment, enhancing child development, providing recovery, parental mental health support, and facilitating access to specialty medical services within our clinic. ### CATALYST Clinic [CATALYST](/node/116031) helps teens and young adults who use alcohol or drugs by providing access to a wide range of services, including primary care, harm reduction, assessment, and treatment of substance use disorders, psychiatry, psychotherapy, and recovery support for patients through age 25 and their families. ## Our Team ### Leadership Megan T. Sandel, MD, MPH ### Executive Committee Soukaina Adolphe, MD Shari Krauss, MA, MPH Richard Sheward, MPP Michelle Stransky, PhD Marilyn C. Augustyn, MD Gina Giarusso, MS, RN Ezra Chapola, MS Neena N McConnico, LMHC Noelia Lugo, BS Michelle Saboliauskas, RN Barbara Amedoadzi, MS ## Partner With Us The center is guided by the framework that mental health is inseparable from physical health and they are integral to one another (M=P), that economic mobility is the foundation of long-lasting health, that and new models of addressing health-related social needs are needed to foster long-term stability. We are looking for partners on key core functions: - **Practice transformation and whole family wellness:** We support population health approaches to developmental, behavioral health, and social determinants to create new team-based models of care. - **Clinical innovation pathway infrastructure:** With support from the Carter Innovation fund, the center will be launching an innovation incubator in the spring of 2026 that learns from tech models of entrepreneurship development and support. - **Impact evaluation and learning:** We are working to develop an evaluation checklist and standardized models of evaluation so that our innovative partners can learn from each other. - **Community partnership and family co-design:** We are developing a patient advisory council and collaborating with the tech sector to integrate patient insights into new models of care. - **Sustainable intrapreneurship and revenue diversification:** We are creating business plans to move promising innovations into operational budgets and to establish training and technical assistance hubs for broader dissemination. To learn more about partnership opportunities, contact the Center for Urban Child and Healthy Family Executive Director Megan Sandel at . ## Support Our Work We greatly appreciate your support. To designate your donation to the Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family: - Under “Designation,” choose “Other.” - Click “Add comment.” - Type in “Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family.” [Make a Donation](https://development.bmc.org/?form=give-bmc&package_id=FY26_AF_BMC.org_18&utm_campaign=annual-fund&utm_medium=bmc-web&utm_source=bmc-urban-child-healthy-family&utm_content=donate)