The Maternal and Infant Health Outreach Worker Program (MIHOW) of Vanderbilt University's Center for Health Services gathered data on family planning, prenatal care, pregnancy outcomes, breastfeeding, and preventive child health care from 60 women in 6 rural, low income communities in Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The resulting baseline was used to compare MIHOW program effectiveness, and to examine characteristics of women in poverty and how their poverty impacts maternal and infant health and health practices. The survey related measures of health care, status, and practices to resources, information, and access to care. Intermediate measures included adequacy of income to provide food at all times, type of support, sources of knowledge, and availability of transportation. Findings suggested resources for low income women and children were too low and that community-based home visitor programs were appropriate to provide additional resources. The survey found birth weights, contraceptive use, prenatal care, and breastfeeding all below national averages. Female-headed households, nonemployment income sources, age, and race were significant determining factors. Discussion of survey results contains 29 tables; survey data keyed to each table form the appendix. A map locates MIHOW survey communities. (LFL)