Early childhood is a critical period for every infant. Raising healthy, happy children is a challenge for every parent. Helping families navigate the first few years of life is the goal of home visiting, a statewide network of free programs that promotes family health and education from pregnancy through early childhood. The network provides nurses, social workers and other professionals to answer expectant and new parents’ questions about such topics as nutrition, health and discipline – in the privacy of their own home.

Early childhood is a critical period for every infant. Raising healthy, happy children is a challenge for every parent. Helping families navigate the first few years of life is the goal of home visiting, a statewide network of free programs that promotes family health and education from pregnancy through early childhood. The network provides nurses, social workers and other professionals to answer expectant and new parents’ questions about such topics as nutrition, health and discipline – in the privacy of their own home.

This report examines community concerns and challenges related to extreme heat during a typical year and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It considers which policies have helped address these concerns and challenges and identifies potential opportunities to further support community members with the challenge of extreme heat. The report focuses specifically on American Indian and Latino/a community members, given their disproportionate risk of experiencing detrimental impacts of extreme heat and overlapping risk factors for negative outcomes of COVID-19.