Time flies! In the summer of 2016, we launched our first-ever Community Action Day (CAD) to bring the families we serve together for fun, food, to guide our Policy Agenda, and to bring their voices to the people elected to represent them. This year, we celebrated our 10th Community Action Day on October 11, and it was an incredible time!

CAD is a signature event that amplifies the voices of NNCC’s home visiting participants and brings together families, elected officials, and community resource partners to advance NNCC’s mission to meet the wellness needs of the families we serve. This year’s milestone event welcomed more than 150 attendees, 30 resource partners, and 7 elected officials, demonstrating a collaborative commitment to community well-being.

Read about the different aspects of CAD 2025 below:

Advocacy in Action

Advocacy has been at the heart of Community Action Day for a decade. This year, we were thrilled to welcome 10 representatives from 6 legislative and elected official offices who battled the rainy weather to meet with us, meet our community partners, and chat with the families we serve about what matters to them most, what they want to see in their communities, and things that they love about Philadelphia.

A special thanks to the offices of:

• Pennsylvania State Senator Sharif Street,

• Pennsylvania State Representative G. Roni Green,

• Pennsylvania State Representative Rick Krajewski,

• Philadelphia City Councilmember Nina Ahmad,

• Philadelphia City Councilmember Jim Harrity, and

• Philadelphia City Controller Christy Brady.

To these offices, we are grateful for your participation this year and look forward to working with you to make Philadelphia a place where everyone can thrive! 

Additionally, the 2025 Community Voice Project allowed families to become familiar with Soap-Box, a community resource for Zine-Style printmaking through participating in letter-block printing a variety of prompts about their communities and their voices in the community. Participants of all ages were invited to decorate the cards to share as a visual representation of the community voice. The colorful cards were then photographed to create a virtual Zine and hung up as a banner.

Community Partners

This year, Community Action Day served as a powerful testament to collective impact, bringing together over 30 dedicated community partners. This diverse coalition represented sectors ranging from public health and vocational training to environmental advocacy, financial planning, and the arts. By pooling these multi-disciplinary resources, we created a comprehensive "one-stop" ecosystem that addressed the holistic needs of our families, proving that our impact is exponentially greater when we work cooperatively. Whether it was health screenings, career coaching, or youth mentorship, the variety of support available reflected the vibrant, multifaceted nature of our community. We are stronger together! 

Activity Overview

During CAD, our families not only had the opportunity to meet community partners and legislators, but were also invited to participate in several family activities! We had a photographer there to provide family portraits, as well as a 360-degree photo booth. There was a DJ playing music throughout the event, and we had a live salsa performance by a local dance school! There were carnival games for all ages, and we also offered childcare in the Kids Zone so that parents had an opportunity to explore the different community partners child-free.

Gender Justice Fund

Since 2021, the Gender Justice Fund has provided funding for NNCC’s Community Action Day (CAD) through their Systems Change Grant Program. The program awards a two-year grant to organizations that are working towards gender justice through advocacy, policy, and community organizing.

While CAD takes place over the course of one day, it is the culmination of NNCC’s ongoing year-round efforts in advocacy, policy, and community organizing. NNCC is deeply grateful to the Gender Justice Fund for its partnership and commitment to the communities we serve.

First-time parents face many challenges, especially those living in America's "poorest big city." Issues with poverty, housing instability, and unreliable transportation to medical appointments compound the challenges of becoming a first-time parent. 

Recognizing this, the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium launched the Philadelphia Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program in 2001 to serve low-income, first-time parents in the city. The program is an evidence-based national model with outcomes that include long-term family improvements in health, education, and economic self-sufficiency.

We sat down with one first-time mother, Kymirah, and her nurse, Becca, to hear about their experience, and learn how the nurse-parent relationship can improve a child's health.

Can you tell us about the beginning of your nurse-parent relationship?

Becca: Kymirah and I met one another back in November 2021, when she was pregnant. At that time, our relationship was virtual because we were still in the throes of the pandemic. But initially I learned about her: her story, her excitement about becoming a mom, and the challenges she was facing at the time. One such being housing instability.

Kymirah: Becca and NFP came alongside me during my second trimester. I was going to become a first-time mom, and Becca made the pregnancy easier than I ever could have imagined. She eased my worries and was one of my main supporters during the hard times. She is reliable, encouraging, and respectful.

What changed along the way as your relationship grew?

Becca: Kymirah is an incredibly dedicated mother. When her daughter Journee was born, Kymirah devoted herself to being Journee’s first teacher. She always reads to Journee. Two years on, their bookshelf is overflowing! Reading, playing, and learning together has always been a priority in their family. I always love bringing a craft with me during our home visits.

Kymirah: From the moment I had Journee, Becca has been there every step of the way. She supported me in the birth of my daughter, and taught me how to breastfeed. I’ve also struggled with reliable transportation, and NFP always provides transportations to important things, whether a doctor's appointment or activities like Kith & Kin. But even further than helping me in motherhood, Becca has continued to support my educational goals and create a workspace that works for my entire family.

Becca: Kymirah is an incredible advocate for others, that’s her career. She supports youth experiencing homelessness, and I’ve now watched Kymirah herself go from struggling with housing insecurity to staying in an apartment and building a beautiful home for her family.

The purpose of NFP is to develop an interpersonal relationship between nurse and client. That would not have been possible without Kymirah herself being especially dedicated. Oftentimes, we tackle problems together, but sometimes we need even more help. Having a legal support team and a family support fund on our side gives us even further expert advice, and a safety net to fall back on. The program as a whole looks different for every family, but Kymirah has made it her own and it has been an honor to stand beside her and her family as they grow and love one another.

Becca, since working for NFP, what have you realized about the challenges new mother’s face?

Becca: I think new mothers face an uphill battle in many ways. Prenatal care sometimes requires weekly appointments, and this can be a huge challenge for people who are working and struggle with transportation. When the baby is born, parents face a demanding combination of sleep deprivation and physical healing, all while navigating the monumental emotional transition into parenthood. This is no easy feat, especially for single moms and those with limited familial support. Every stage of those first two years brings along its own challenges and its own joys. New words come with new abilities (like throwing food around the kitchen for fun!). I am always in awe of the superhuman patience parents seem to possess.

Through my work with NFP, it has become resoundingly clear that paid parental leave is a necessity. New mothers shouldn’t have to choose between making money for rent and taking care of their newborn baby. NFP has given me the opportunity to meet people like Kymirah who are not only parenting, but also supporting and advocating for those around her. I will miss her dearly when our time in NFP concludes. I know she will continue to touch those around her with dedication, passion, and love.

Kerienne M. Huggins is a current Public Health Nurse Supervisor at NNCC. A registered nurse from Philadelphia, PA, she attended Notre Dame of Maryland University, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2015. 

Kerienne sat down with us to speak about her time as a nurse home visitor with Nurse-Family Partnership, the impact nurse home visitors have on the families they work with, and how NNCC has supported her transition from nurse to supervisor. Read here:

What made you decide to initially become a home visitor?

I learned about home visiting toward the end of my nursing education, while taking community health. However, my professors and advisors at the time suggested that 2 years of MedSurg/bedside work was the way to go as a new graduate nurse. I followed that advice but did not enjoy staff nursing at all! I liked that I was able to sharpen my hands-on nursing skills, but the long hours and unstable staff-to-patient ratios prompted me to look into other nursing jobs. I remembered my fascination with home visiting and found my way to NNCC – I haven’t looked back since

Is there a story that you remember from your time as a home visitor that you hold dear to your heart?

It's not a story, but I love it when families make cards for me or give me photos of them. I keep all of those things and display them in my workspace. The funniest thing is thinking how much bigger the kids are now compared to when their family gave me a picture of them at a few months old, and even better is when I run into them out and about!

What do you think home visitors impact the most - for instance, is it family dynamics? Child health? Confidence in themselves?

I think home visitors impact the self-esteem of the parents the most. Being a consistent source of reflection and affirmation for clients eventually helps them notice how their efforts are positively affecting their and their family’s lives.

Your transition from nurse home visitor to supervisor - what was that experience like?

The transition has been rather seamless, which I am happy about. My colleagues have been beyond supportive and encouraging during my transition. There is always someone I can go to with questions and our overall work culture enthusiastically supports people in growing their skill sets. I can say I enjoy increased work-life balance as well as increased job satisfaction. The best part of it all is that I was able to move into a position at an organization I am already familiar with, in response to changes in my personal life.

What would you say to any future nurses, or those that are looking for a career shift, about working as a home visitor?

Nursing does not have to look one way. You can carve out a nursing career in public health that allows you to pull in your interests in a creative way. Home visiting is extremely rewarding work that influences multigenerational changes in families, thereby positively impacting society as a whole.

Earlier this week, NNCC's Executive Director Sarah Hexem Hubbard joined patients and advocates in the Pennsylvania State Capitol to speak in support of legislation that would increase access to health care delivered by Nurse Practitioners.

Hubbard represented the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium and Public Health Management Corporation's support for the Care for PA Coalition. The Care for PA Coalition has broad reach across the state of Pennsylvania, across sectors, across disciplines, and across party lines. Whether driven by respect for a patient's freedom to select the provider they trust, interest in implementing evidence-based public health policy, or championing the cause of consumers, the coalition is committed to the success of full practice authority legislation in Pennsylvania.

In Pennsylvania and the other 23 states who have yet to modernize advanced practice nursing regulations. Full practice authority is well past due.

Learn more about Full Practice Authority here.