Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant Program

As one of the largest federal block grant programs, Title V funding is a key source of support for promoting and improving the health and well-being of the nation’s mothers, children-including children with special needs, and their families.

In 2019, the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant Program funded 59 states and jurisdictions to provide health care and public health services for an estimated 60 million people. Services reached 92% of all pregnant women, 98% of infants, and 60% of children nationwide, including children with special health care needs.

What are the Goals of Title V?

Title V funds are distributed to grantees from 59 states and jurisdictions. The funds seek to create federal and state partnerships that support:

How Does the Title V MCH Block Grant Program Work?

State maternal and child health agencies, which are usually located within a state health department, apply annually for Title V funding. The legislation also requires states to submit an Annual Report and to complete a statewide, comprehensive needs assessment every five years. States have flexibility in how Title V funds are used to support a wide range of activities that address state and national needs.

How Is the Title V MCH Block Grant Program Funded?

Each year, Congress sets aside funding for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant. Individual State allotments are determined by a formula, which considers the proportion of low-income children in a particular state compared to the total number of low-income children in the entire U.S.

States and jurisdictions must match every $4 of federal Title V money that they receive by at least $3 of state and/or local money (i.e., non-federal dollars). Many states overmatch, which results in more than $5 billion being available each year for maternal and child health programs at the state and local levels.

How are Programs Held Accountable?

A three-tiered performance measure framework was introduced in 2015 to enable states to demonstrate the impacts of Title V on selected health outcomes within a state. States apply this new framework in developing a five-year State Action Plan to address their identified MCH priority needs.

Each measure, tied to a national data source, allows for more timely, reliable, and valid data reporting. The new performance measure framework intends to track areas where the state MCH programs can best demonstrate the impact of their Title V investments.

The information and data contained within the 59 State MCH Block Grant Applications/Annual Reports is publicly accessible on the Title V Information System (TVIS). In addition to a dashboard presentation of national and state level performance measure data, the TVIS features other state-reported financial and program data as well as a State Snapshot for the 59 states and jurisdictions that receive Title V funding as well as a National Snapshot (PDF - 545 KB) for the program.

Date Last Reviewed: December 2020

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Date Published: 1/5/2021