Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Founded in 1983, New Moms serves young moms experiencing poverty & homelessness in Chicago and its near western suburbs. Our unique model first helps youth to address crisis situations in their lives, then supports moms as they develop parenting skills and create long-term goals toward stability. Our core programs are designed to work together or separately—decreasing barriers, while coaching young moms as they develop critical skills. When young moms come to us, most are experiencing poverty, homelessness, and scarcity. ~50% have dropped out of school. Kids are at high risk for long-term health, educational, and long-term poverty outcomes. Despite the barriers they face, we serve families at a unique time in their development--early childhood and late adolescence, the two periods during which our brains develop most rapidly. We capitalize on this, helping families to develop habits that will yield lifelong stability.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Housing
New Moms provides housing and supportive services for young families experiencing homelessness in Chicago and the near western suburbs. We have 40 center-based apartments in Chicago, 18 center-based apartments in Oak Park. This program serves ~78 families annually.
Families reside in their own apartments. Most remain in our program for 12-24 months before exiting to permanent housing.
While enrolled, families are encouraged to engage in supportive services, including home-based parent coaching and doula services; weekly parent support groups; Job Training services; and education re-enrollment assistance. We provide housing location assistance and followup to ensure housing retention.
Job Training
Job Training provides intensive pre-employment training, paid transitional jobs, and permanent employment placement for ~100 adolescent mothers annually.
Job Training is an intensive 16-week program designed to serve adolescent mothers, aged 16-24. Youth complete individualized career planning; intensive job-readiness training; and paid transitional jobs at our social enterprise candle company, Bright Endeavors. Training includes a focus on literacy; financial literacy; and the needs of working mothers. We assist youth in locating permanent employment, then provide followup to ensure job retention.
Throughout training, youth receive Executive Skills Coaching--coaching around those skills that help us to set goals, initiate tasks, and manage stress and conflict.
Family Support
New Moms' Family Support program serves young moms in Chicago and Oak Park, who are experiencing poverty and homelessness.
Family Support includes home-based parent coaching; child health & development monitoring; doula services supporting healthy pregnancies; and weekly prenatal/parent support groups, fostering community while educating young moms on critical life and parenting topics.
Our population of families is critically medically underserved--because they are living in crisis, young moms are unlikely to access adequate prenatal or preventative healthcare for themselves and their children. Without a doula, most would not have a support person in the delivery room. Participants' children are at high risk for negative outcomes associated with abuse, neglect, developmental and language delays; education, health, & long-term poverty outcomes.
We know that the inextricable link between mothers and children is the perfect opportunity to begin transforming families and communities for generations to come. Therefore, our programs are designed to serve mother and child simultaneously--addressing immediate needs, then helping moms to establish long-term personal, family, and professional goals.
This program uses Family-Centered Coaching paired with the evidence-based Parents As Teachers curriculum and Executive Skills Coaching, to meet the needs of young families, while helping them to prepare for long-term success.
This program serves ~220 families annually in Chicago and the near western suburbs.
Where we work
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of homeless participants engaged in housing services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Housing
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Number of young moms and children housed in our programs.
Number of households that obtain/retain permanent housing for at least 6 months
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
89% of families exited to permanent housing. 94% of families retained housing for 6+ months.
Number of participants who gain employment
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Job Training
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
67 young moms obtained permanent employment, despite Covid-19 related challenges.
Number of children with age-appropriate immunization levels at age two
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
98% of children were up to date on immunizations by time of program exit.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
New Moms' overall goal is to help young mothers progress toward housing stability, economic mobility, and family well-being.
We blend 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.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Agency programs include:
• Housing: center-based housing & supportive services for 40 families experiencing homelessness in Chicago; and 18 families in Oak Park. Serves ~78 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.
• Academic Coaching: coaching & supports for young moms pursuing postsecondary degrees. Serves 25 young moms annually.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
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.
2020-2021: responded in real time to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022: Added Academic Coaching program.
2022: Launched The Hub @ New Moms - our training & innovation center.
During Fiscal Year 2021, we served 300 moms and 418 children. 89% of families exited to stable housing. 81% retained stable housing for at least 1 year after exit. 67 young moms obtained permanent employment. 47% retained employment for at least 12 months (compared to a national 39% rate for programs primarily serving 18-24-year-olds). This number is far below our average, due to widespread Covid-19-related job loss. 69% had increased their educational level by exit. Our repeat pregnancy rate was 5%, compared to a national average of 20% for urban minority youth. 77% of young moms who received home visiting services for at least 6 months practiced positive parenting skills, as measured by the Life Skills Progression Scale. 93% of young moms and their children met key health goals around subsequent pregnancy rates, breastfeeding, child immunizations, & medical insurance.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over the past 5 years, we have placed 378 young mothers into permanent , unsubsidized employment. 57% 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). 82% 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 5.7% (compared to a national 20% rate for urban minority youth).
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
New Moms serves young moms, aged 24 and under, and their young children, who are experiencing poverty and homelessness in Chicagoland.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
New Moms has recently begun recruiting for our programs on bus ads and on TikTok, per the recommendation of our Parent Advisory Council.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
NEW MOMS, INC.
Board of directorsas of 03/23/2022
Ms. Deborah Gillespie
Retired - Joyce Foundation
Term: 2021 - 2025
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/08/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.