The New Moms Golf Outing on September 11, 2024 will welcome 150+ guests, including civic, philanthropic, and business leaders. Celebrate and support New Moms’ progress over 40 years and our innovative vision for the future. Golf, great food and drink, silent auction, and raffles are featured along with a presentation.

Celebrate the strength and resilience of young mothers and tee off for bright futures with us!

From a baby’s first words to their first steps ­­­─ a parent is their child’s first and best teacher.

When Dilley realized her boys were curious about her while they shared young aspirations of being racecar drivers and policemen, she wanted to tell them that she enjoyed her work. Determined to get the support she needed to make that a reality, she found New Moms.

Economic instability creates added stress on young moms as they define their purpose and pursue a future for their families. At New Moms, each young mom is surrounded by a supportive community that walks alongside her. Through our comprehensive programs and multi-generational approach, young moms take control of their lives by setting and accomplishing goals that move them closer to their vision of a strong future.

Before New Moms, Dilley worked temporary jobs without a clear career trajectory to help sustain her and her three young sons whose ages range from infant to 7.

Dilley felt stifled in her previous jobs. She knew her capabilities, but she was not encouraged to develop those skills.

“I used to work at a restaurant, and I was a crew trainer. They’d be like, ‘you’re a crew trainer, not a supervisor’,” Dilley shared. “I feel like I’ve always had some sort of push back, like, ‘hey, limit yourself. You’re not as big as you think.”

At New Moms her strengths were celebrated! She could refine her skills and unlock new career pathways.

With the support of her career coach, Dilley hit the ground running. She had a new-found confidence in her leadership abilities and access to new career opportunities.

“Initially I thought I was just showing up to have an income for my children,” Dilley expressed. “The staff at New Moms showed me I was there for so much more! They showed me I was there to be the fierce leader I forgot I was.”

With New Moms’ support, Dilley was hired as a receptionist. Our programs help young moms like Dilley, write their own story and create lasting success.

The work at New Moms takes a community that is committed to seeing every young family thrive. Your generosity makes a powerful, multigenerational impact on the lives of over 695 young moms and their children each year.

Our Fiscal Year 2024 is concluding, and now is an important moment for you to help young moms continue to be driven by their purpose and achieve positive outcomes for their families.

Give to New Moms today and be the community young families can rely on to build stable foundations and create lasting, bright futures.

With gratitude & hope,

Laura Zumdahl, Ph.D.
President & CEO

Before she found New Moms, she and her son had slept in cars and foreclosed apartments just to find safety and comfort for a night. Dominique says, “I felt low, like I was failing my son and myself. I worked—but not as many hours as I needed to take care of my son.”

For the last two years in New Moms’ Housing program, Dominique has worked closely with New Moms Coaches. “What really impacted me in this program is Ms. Carolyn and Ms. Teneca. They treated me with respect and nurtured me into the young lady that I am becoming. When I thought I had no one in my corner, I always had them. I’m forever grateful for them.” 

These supportive relationships with her coaches provided mental and emotional slack so she could focus on achieving her goals. Dominique took steps to secure stable housing—her biggest and most immediate goal for her family. Housing Locator Carolyn worked with Dominique every step of the way to get placed in subsidized housing. She recently signed a lease to a townhome in the neighborhood where she grew up, just 30 minutes away from her grandmother! 

Dominique accomplished her next major goal of finding employment. She now works at Potbelly Sandwiches, where she got a raise and was promoted to floor manager! Her smile says it all—she knows what it feels like to accomplish her goals.

“New Moms supported me mentally, physically, and emotionally. Without this program I don’t know what would have happened to us. It gave me a sense of security while trying to get my life together.” 

Dominique is excited about “having a home and just appreciating what we have right now. I’m excited for my son to have sleepovers, and little play dates together with his friends. I’m excited I get to cook dinner and breakfast for my son, not worrying about if we have to move or if we are being a burden to anyone.”

Reflecting on how much she has grown since coming to New Moms, Dominique shares, “I’m glad I overcame thinking I couldn’t give my son the life he needs. I’m now stronger than ever and I’ll never let that fear take over me again. Thank you New Moms!”

I recently celebrated my 10-year anniversary serving as the President and CEO at New Moms. As I reflect on a decade of leading New Moms, I’m filled with a profound sense of gratitude for the journey. Our core values of love, grit, possibility, connection, and equity are the guiding force behind our work with the remarkable young mothers and their children we have the privilege to support. And over the last decade, I’ve watched New Moms become an even more distinctive and special place, with a nationally recognized model. Serving in this role has been the biggest privilege of my professional life. The New Moms community is full of grace, goodwill, and a relentless push toward excellence, and I’m grateful to be part of this unique and wonderful team.

Perhaps the question I’m often asked in my role is: “How do you know if New Moms is making a difference for the young families you serve?”

While I often find myself sharing data about our impact — our exceptional results on family well-being, economic mobility, and family stability measures — that presents an incomplete picture. Sometimes I give an example of a recent young family we served through a story about how their life changed as the result of accomplishing their goals. But that too, just tells part of the story.

The real answer is I can’t tell you…yet.

Because things, especially big, hard life transitions, take time. Getting a degree can lead to better job opportunities. Better financial options can ensure that you stay housed and have enough money for the essentials. And the stability of all these factors increases the emotional resources parents have for their children. But all these things take hard work, goal-driven persistence, and time.

We know that we’re just part of the story of a young family at New Moms. Our participants do the hard work and we come alongside them during a chapter on their journey — supporting, coaching, and cheering them on as they work to build strong families. And the result of their hard work? The impact of New Moms? That we will more fully know in a generation.

What I do know is that because of the support of New Moms, we are privileged to witness the beginning of this generational change. Dominique is now living in her own apartment and is beginning her career in her first job. Latoya refers back to the skills she learned at New Moms seven years ago which helped her weather job transitions during COVID and persist to pursue a career where she finds great opportunity — she’s even saving for a down payment on a home for her and her three boys! I do know that moms in our programs consistently express an increased confidence in their ability to lead their families and navigate the very real challenges that life brings their way. And I know that New Moms’ outcomes consistently surpass national averages compared to programs doing similar work. I know, because of each story, and the robust data that we collect, that New Moms is making a significant impact in this critical time in the life of a young family. It is this community of support that gives a young mom the space that she needs to build a foundation that will give her stability when she moves past her time with us.

New Moms celebrated our 40th anniversary last year, a natural moment to look back. Stories like Eliza’s, who was a young mom in our programs in 1995 and now provides leadership to New Moms as a member of our board of directors, show us that only when we look back can we really see the lasting impact of our work. We can see how an entire family was changed by their interaction with New Moms, and the children that were part of our community 25 years ago are now thriving adults. Multi-generational change is the long-game, and we’re here for it.

So, while 10 years feels like a long time, it’s not long enough to know the full impact. I’m going to stick around for a while longer because I want in on the impact — I want to be part of ensuring that every young family thrives.

Thank you for being part of this journey with me. Stick around and be part of the change!

With gratitude & hope,

Laura Zumdahl, Ph.D.
President & CEO

Lakeisha came to New Moms around 1993 when she was 16 years old. She had a few friends in the New Moms’ parent support group who brought her along to some of the meetings. (Back then there was only one parent support group and it met on Wednesday evenings.) Lakeisha remembers that there was a group of moms who would walk to the meetings together. After school, they would all pick up their kids and on the way to New Moms they would stop by the park for a bit so the kids could let out their energy.

She said the best part about New Moms’ program was the support system it provided. She developed friendships with the other moms and found a mother-figure in the New Moms coaches.

“I didn’t have the type of support the ladies at New Moms gave me at home,” said Lakeisha, whose own mother had her at 14. “I didn’t have a motherly figure that I felt comfortable speaking with or talking with.”
The coaches at New Moms provided emotional support for Lakeisha when she went through two adoptions during her time in the program. She said no one knew she was pregnant at the time except for the folks at New Moms.

“I don’t know if I really would have gotten through that without going to New Moms,” said Lakeisha, who gave two sons up for adoption. “New Moms helped me get through that and out of the abusive relationship that I was in. They helped me feel like an adult as opposed to feeling like a little girl.”

Lakeisha now lives on the South Side in the Oak Wood Area and has been working in the field of Transportation and Logistics for nine years. She recently completed Spa School and would like to transition into a career in Wellness and Beauty. She is the proud mother of seven sons and one three-year-old daughter.

To young moms currently enrolled with New Moms Lakeisha says, “Take this program and make the best out of it. Take these sisterhoods and make the best out of it.”

She said in her experience, it’s important to “stay positive about the situation” because even if life is full of struggles right now, that doesn’t mean the struggles are going to last.

“Be kind to yourself and be kind to your kids,” Lakeisha said. “And keep going. If you need help, ask for it.”

In 1998, Ingrid was pregnant with her first child and a friend referred her to New Moms. She stayed in the program through 2000. Ingrid is now the proud owner of her own business, the mother of three adult children, and recently bought a house with her husband in Berwin.

She said during her time at New Moms she learned a lot about herself, and the type of parent she wanted to be. Her experience made her more thoughtful and made her want to do more with her kids. She really committed to being a very active parent that sang, danced, played make-believe, and took her kids on outings.

“My husband says I’m probably the only person who knows every nursery rhyme there ever was.” she laughed.

She said her favorite part about New Moms was the community. She remembers helping cook dinner for parent support group, going on the retreat trip with the other moms, and completing the parent-child activities her coach brought to their home visits.

That sense of community continued after she aged out of the program. She was able to stay in touch with other moms because their children went to the same schools. In an interesting twist of fate, a good friend of hers turned out to be a New Moms’ alumni and so did her mail carrier. Ingrid said she is also part of an unofficial “New Moms Founding Members” chat on Facebook which has helped her keep connected over the years.

To the current participants at New Moms, Ingrid says they should be happy they reached out for help and she’s proud of them for being willing to seek out resources. She said one of her best decisions was simply starting the program and “going through the door.” Reflecting back, Ingrid said it was all the small changes she was able to make in her life while at New Moms that eventually lead to big positive changes.

She wanted to remind young moms that even when it’s hard to keep going.

“Even if you’ve got to do it with tears in your eyes – keep going. Because there’s many days that I had to go sit in the bathroom stall like on “Mean Girls” and just cry. Then I splashed some cold water on my face and kept going because there were people depending on me. I’ve lost jobs. Lost parents. But the motivating factor is that I have someone depending on me and I need to carry the torch as far as I can carry it because I need them to be the ones to take it to the next level.”

While in the program, Denise finished high school and graduated from South Suburban Community College. She said the support she received from New Moms coaches was an important reason she was able to pursue her education.

“I just thought that I wouldn’t be able to ever finish,” Denise said. “I just thought that I would be a statistic and a dropout, so my biggest achievement was being able to go back to school and actually get a degree.”

She said her favorite memory from New Moms was the Christmas Store. During the annual participant Christmas party, moms could play games to win tickets which they redeemed at the Christmas store for gifts for themselves and their kids. She said her first year, the store was a surprise to the moms. They thought they were just playing games for fun. When it was revealed they could shop for Christmas presents, they were all so excited.

Denise is now married and the mother of four children. She is happy to say her two oldest girls have both graduated from college with their Bachelor’s degrees. Denise herself had gone back to school and is studying nursing at Ambria College of Nursing.

She is still in touch with other New Moms alumni. She said they bonded while attending Parent Support Groups together. In fact, a group of them would walk over from their apartments to the main New Moms’ building every week for their meeting.

To current young moms, Denise said that she knows how challenging it can be but, “set those goals and you’ll succeed.” She said she learned so much about herself while at New Moms and was proud of finishing school and starting her career.

Cheryl was able to leave the housing program after only one year and move out with her daughter on their own after receiving a job as administrative assistant with the Hilton Hotel. From there, with no experience but a willingness to learn, Cheryl began a lengthy career journey through hospitality, graphic design, IT management, and accounting.

She has since received her Associate’s degree and numerous certificates from Kaplan University. Last year, Cheryl started her own career consulting company, Impress IQ, crediting her dynamic path and humble beginnings for her ability “to help people meet their potential.” She now lives in Houston, TX with her four children, but Cheryl will always credit New Moms for providing a safe environment to allow her to focus on her next steps. Cheryl aims to one day become a COO based on her love for people and desire to give back. To current New Moms participants she advises, “You can do whatever you want to do as long as you believe in yourself.”

“My name is Cheryl Darling and 10 years ago I lived at New Moms Shelter from 1997-1998. New Moms was the only family that attended my high school graduation.  There after high school I got a job at the Chicago Hilton & Towers as an Administrative Assistant and moved to my own 2 bedroom apartment.  I am still a single mother and for the last 3 years I have been working as a Technical Analyst at ADP (Automatic Data Processing- payroll company) making over $40,000.  I have a beautiful townhome and am still working on my BA at DeVry University majoring in Computer Information Systems. I wanted to tell you all this because I want New Moms clients to know that there are single women out here who can and are making it day to day.  I hope to be one of you guys success stories.  I love my children and myself and I thank New Moms now and back then for taking a chance on me.”

What she remembers most from her time at New Moms are the outings coaches planned for participants. She said each year, New Moms would organize a weekend retreat to Timberland Camp for all the young moms. She said she also remembers being connected with a sister organization called “Literature for All of Us” the held creative writing retreats.

A few years ago, Adrienne moved to Georgia with her family. She is now the mother of two daughters and one son all of which have graduated high school. Adrienne herself has gone back to college because her employer is paying for technology certifications. She is hoping this training will allow her to climb the professional ladder at her company.

Adrienne said she is a firm believer that you are the sum of your experiences and that all her hard lessons and blessings prepared her for where she is now. If she could go back in time, she would tell her younger self, “You will learn and grow. So, hang in there, it will all make sense.”

To current moms at New Moms, she encouraged them to ask for help and not be afraid of judgment or rejection. She said, “If you need it, say something because resources and programs lose funding if no one utilizes them.” She wants all moms to take advantage of the resources available to them and to spread the word to their friends and families.

Adrienne is excited to see how much New Moms has grown over the years and would like to connect with other alumni and give back to the current group of young moms.