A Decade of Service, A New Name: CPHEI Becomes Children’s Wellness and Environmental Health Partnership

The University of Maryland School of Nursing’s (UMSON) former Community and Public Health Environmental Initiative (CPHEI) is marking its 10th anniversary with a new name that recognizes the program’s expanding work with children, families, and early childhood centers: the Children’s Wellness and Environmental Health Partnership (CWEHP).

The program’s leadership proposed the new name to represent the broad work of UMSON faculty and nursing students with Early Head Start (EHS), Head Start (HS), and Patty Center children, staff, and families as well as their implementation of the Eco-Healthy Child Care Program, a national initiative to help childcare facilities reduce or eliminate environmental hazards. Helping centers create and maintain a healthy environment is a critical component of ensuring the physical, mental, and social wellness of the children and families CWEHP serves. (See video below to learn more about CWEHP.)

“We believe that early identification of potential health issues and early intervention are key to ensuring children’s well-being and school readiness,” said Laura Allen, DNP '24, MA, MS '15, RN, NEA-BC, assistant professor and CWEHP director. She, along with Robyn Gilden, PhD '10, MS '01, RN, associate professor and director of the Environmental Health Certificate, commemorated the partnership’s 10th anniversary by formally announcing its new name at an event honoring 60 years of its Community/Public Health Nursing master’s specialty.

Initially comprising three clinical groups of entry-into-nursing bachelor’s and master’s students, the program has expanded to include RN-to-Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice students. The students provide hearing and vision screening, chart reviews, well-child exams and developmental screenings, as well as targeted health education and health screenings for staff and families. The partnership  is a collaborative effort with the Maryland Family Network (MFN), the largest grantee of EHS funds in Maryland, to improve overall health and environmental health for EHS center children from birth until age 3 through programs that support early literacy and life-long healthy habits, including nutrition, physical activity, quality family time, and mindfulness.

Faculty, staff, and students will continue to provide the same high-quality health oversight, screening, and education as they have for the past 10 years. 

Since the partnership’s start in 2016:

• 39 EHS, HS, and Patty Centers supported
• nearly 900 nursing students participated
• more than 1,700 hearing and vision screenings delivered
• more than 2,700 well child exams and developmental screenings conducted
• more than 2,800 health charts reviewed for up-to-date documentation.

“We had to work very hard to build trust in the community and actually show what nursing students could provide,” Allen said. “We went from ‘What are you doing here?’ to ‘When are you coming back?’”.

CWEHP recently partnered with the University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UMSOD), assisting with dental screenings and fluoride treatments that dental students are providing to the EHS, HS, and Patty Center children.

When it was established in 2016, funding for the then-CPHEI began with a $750,000 gift to the University of Maryland School of Nursing from the Mary Catherine Bunting Foundation in honor of Bunting, MS ’72, CRNP, RN. Since then, UMSON and the MFN, the largest grantee of EHS funds in Maryland, have worked in partnership to provide direct and indirect nursing services to EHS and HS centers in Baltimore City. In 2025, the Mary Catherine Bunting Foundation bestowed another $300,000 gift in the form of a three-year pledge to continue the work of the initiative. In total, Bunting and the foundation have contributed $1.55 million to UMSON in support of CWEHP.

Additional funding comes from various current and past funders, including the Nurse Support Program II; The Richman Foundation; The Blanket Fort Foundation; alumni such as Loree LaChance, DNP, MHA, BSN ’89, RN, CNE, NCSN; UMSON; UMSOD; and the Maryland State Department of Education.

For more information and to learn how you can help support this important work, please contact Stacey Conrad, MBA, associate dean for development and alumni relations, at sconrad@umaryland.edu.