The mission of the Mohawk Valley Perinatal Network is to improve birth outcomes and maternal, child and family health. This is accomplished by providing education, networking and awareness campaigns within Oneida and Herkimer Counties. MVPN was founded by a grassroots group in 1996. Their goal was to procure funding for an organization that would address the poor birth-related statistics for Oneida and Herkimer Counties. They identified some of the issues that contributed to these problems as being duplication and gaps in prenatal services, barriers to accessing healthcare services and a lack of education among the providers and the consumers. MVPN works to address the issues by providing educational and networking opportunities, health related resources and public education media campaigns. MVPN conducts focus groups to gather consumer feedback.