The mission of Low Birth Weight Development Center (LBWDC) is to respond to the needs of families having or are at risk of having a low birth weight infant by providing family-centered, community-oriented support services such as Early Head Start, Teen Parenting, Infant Mental Health and Research. LBWDC is a unique, multifaceted, comprehensive program designed to meet the complex needs of high-risk, low birth weight infants, birth through three years and their young, low-income parents.LBWDC is the only agency of its kind in the United States.
The Low Birth Weight Development Center was founded in 1992 by Dr. Elizabeth Heyne and Roy Heyne, M.D. and has served over 5500 low birth weight children and parents.Currently, we assist 350 families annually through our onsite services, home visits and outreach at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The center is located in West Dallas but serves families throughout the North Texas Area, especially Dallas and Tarrant Counties. The majority of our clients live in or around the 75211 zip code.Demographic information for this zip code includes:75% Hispanic, Median Taxable Income is only $26,027 compared to the Texas average of $47,881.More than 10% of the population lives at least 50% below the Federal poverty level according to City-Data for 2009.
With Less than One Dime of Every Dollar Spent on Children in the Federal Budget, LBWDC is committed to help families become self-sufficient and rely less on taxpayer assistance.
With the lowest per-capita spending of any state, and nearly one of every four children living in poverty, this is the time to do just that.Recent research has shown that our programs help reduce the time infants spend in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit by an average of 3 days per infant, saving the taxpayers more than $1 million per year.An investment in LBWDC yields $7 of savings to the public for every $1 of support.
