NEW MOMS, INC.

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.

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.

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.


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.

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).