(Black PR Wire) GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Strong Beginnings, a West Michigan program that aims to provide babies with a healthy start in life, has received more than $9 million to expand outreach among African American and Latino families.

The program will receive $4.3 million over five years from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to improve maternal and child health among Latinos in Kent County through its program, Familias Fuertes y Saludables.

The program also was chosen for a $4.9 million, five-year grant from the Health Resources Administration to increase its capacity to serve African American women, men and their children.

Strong Beginnings, begun in 2005, was created by eight local agencies to improve the health of mothers and children and to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities. Dr. Ken Fawcett, the vice president of Spectrum Health's Healthier Communities, credits the program with helping to reduce the African American infant mortality rate by 32 percent in the past decade.

However, racial disparities remain in the infant mortality rate, which measures the number of deaths for every 1,000 live births. In 2007-2009, Grand Rapids' infant mortality rate was 4.4 for Caucasians and 17.3 for African Americans, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Strong Beginnings provides outreach, case management, education, mental health services and a fatherhood program. Peer-to-peer support is provided by health workers who live in the communities they serve.

The program used a one-year planning grant from the Kellogg Foundation to identify factors that led to a recent rise in the infant mortality rate among Latinos - which is twice as high as Caucasians, as well as a number of extremely premature babies. The new grant will fund services during pregnancy and for two years after delivery.

"Strong Beginnings will help families navigate community services, addressing social determinants that might be barriers, and provide learning opportunities for families," said Veronica Ouintino, the program manager at Family Futures. "We will advocate for Latino families and try to eliminate the gaps these families face. Our goal is to promote health equity for Latina women and children."

Agencies behind Strong Beginnings include Spectrum Health's Healthier Communities program, Arbor Circle, Breton Health Center, Cherry Health, Family Futures, the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute, the Healthy Kent Infant Health Team, the Kent County Health Department and the Salvation Army Booth Clinic.

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