New Moms' overall goal is to help young mothers to stabilize their families, establish long-term personal and professional goals, and escape the cycles of poverty & homelessness. New Moms blends Family-Centered Coaching with Executive Skills Coaching and emerging brain & behavioral science research, to deliver services that are tailored to the unique needs of each young family. Our model places each young mom in the driver's seat of her time at New Moms--our role is to coach her in achieving those goals.

Agency programs include: • Housing: center-based housing & supportive services for 40 families experiencing homelessness in Chicago; and 18 families in Oak Park. We also provide scattered-site housing & supportive services for 15 families in Chicago. Serves ~90 families annually. • Family Support: home-based parent coaching & support, child health & development monitoring, doula services to support healthy pregnancies, and weekly prenatal/parent support groups. Serves ~220 families annually. • Job Training: individualized career planning; education re-enrollment services; intensive classroom-based job skills training; paid transitional jobs at our social enterprise, Bright Endeavors; & permanent employment placement assistance. Serves ~100 youth annually.

New Moms has served young moms mothers since our 1983 inception. We have the expertise, resources, and cultural competence required to serve young families comprehensively--resulting in long-term stability for two generations of high-risk youth. Our programs have received national interest, for their abilities to create real, lasting change in the lives of young families. Our services have been developed, based on the unique, evolving needs of our participants. 1983: we began when our founder started distributing diapers and visiting young mothers in their homes. 1988: added housing for homeless families. 1996: added job training services. 2010: added our social enterprise candle company, Bright Endeavors, where participants gain paid work experience. 2013: moved into a brand-new facility, nearly doubling our service capacity. 2015: added doula services to support healthy pregnancies. 2016: acquired Parenthesis Family Center, an Oak Park agency doing similar work. 2018: completed Social Return on Investment study with Heartland Alliance, determining that for every $1 spent on New Moms' programming, there is a $3.81 return to society as a whole, over 5 years. 2019: opened our brand-new Oak Park Center, adding 18 participant apartments and becoming our permanent suburban home base. Last year, we served 343 moms and 456 children. 75% of young moms had stable housing when they exited New Moms. 81% retained stable housing for at least 1 year after exit. 80 young moms obtained permanent employment. 81% retained employment for at least 12 months. 68% had increased their educational level by exit. Our repeat pregnancy rate was 3.8%, compared to a national average of 20%. 80% of young moms who received home visiting services for at least 6 months practiced appropriate parenting skills, as measured by the Life Skills Progression Scale. 89% of young moms and their children met key health goals around subsequent pregnancy rates, low birth weights, child immunizations, & medical insurance.

Annual progress indicators include: Education: 70% of moms will have obtained a high school diploma/GED, or advance their educational level by exit. Employment: A minimum 80 young moms will be placed into permanent employment during the program year. 55% will remain employed for at least one year. Housing: 80% of moms will obtain stable housing. 80% will retain stable housing for at least one year Health: 90% of families will meet key health indicators around subsequent pregnancy rates; low birth weight rates; breastfeeding initiation; child immunization rates; and family medical insurance. Parenting: 80% of moms enrolled for a minimum of 6 months will practice appropriate parenting skills as measured by the Life Skills Progression Scale.

Over the past 5 years, we have placed 286 young mothers into permanent , unsubsidized employment. 68% of young moms retained employment for 12 months or more (compared to a national 39% retention rate for programs primarily serving 18-24 year olds). 84% of former participants retained housing for 12 months or more (compared to a national 60% rate for mothers of all ages, exiting transitional housing). Our repeat pregnancy rate was just 5% (compared to a national 20% rate for adolescent mothers). New Moms is currently in year 3 of a 3-year strategic plan that will see us nearly doubling our service capacity by 2021. In early 2019, we opened a brand-new facility in the Oak Park community--adding housing for 18 homeless families, and becoming our suburban main offices and community center. We continue to consider innovative ways to meet the needs of young moms and children in Chicago and nationwide.