De Madres a Madres: a community partnership for health.

To increase the number of Hispanic women who begin early prenatal care, a community partnership for health was initiated among the general public, businesses, 14 volunteer mothers, and one community health nurse. Volunteer mothers living in the targeted community were taught how to identify Hispanic women at risk for not starting early prenatal care, and how to provide social support and community resource information within a culturally acceptable milieu. At the end of the first year of the partnership, over 2000 women at risk for not starting early prenatal care had been contacted by the volunteer mothers.