By Christina Rodriguez, Executive Director, Mom’s House of Toledo
Mom's House strives to break the cycles of poverty and welfare. It is our mission to guide at-risk single parents through the process of achieving educational goals and provide tools and resources needed to become effective parents.
Mom’s House serves young, low-income, at-risk, single parents and their children by helping to build strong generations in the Toledo area. With intervention and support, the young parents have set and attained lifetime educational goals and the ability to break the cycle of poverty for themselves and their children. Some clients are the first in their families to graduate from high school or the first to even consider going to college.
Mom’s House offers a Family Wellness Education Program and Early Childhood Education Program, which includes an array of different services.
Mom’s House Family Wellness Education Program
The Mom’s House Family Wellness Education Program is a critical component to breaking the cycle of poverty, at-risk behaviors, and cycles of abuse in the lives of our young families through addressing the root causes of poverty. By providing an exemplary model of individualized family support services and education, clients are empowered to become self-sufficient and less likely to have a repeat unplanned pregnancy and continued dependence on the welfare system.
Mom’s House stands out because of one essential component: the HEARTWORK. It is essential to provide additional supportive services to at-risk, single parents and their families that ultimately work to reduce statistics and change mindsets.
Early Childhood Education Program
The Mom’s House Early Childhood Education Program has been awarded Five Stars, the highest recognition by the State of Ohio’s Step Up to Quality Initiative. Lucas County statistics show that children who come from broken or at-risk families who lack the funds, support, and understanding necessary to provide proper care and education development for their child, so critical in the early stages of development, remain at-risk for the rest of their lives. The children of young mothers are less prepared to enter the school system and score lower on measures of school readiness compared to the children of older mothers. In fact, the children of teen mothers score lower on assessments of cognition, knowledge, and language development compared to the children of older mothers.
The goal of the Early Childhood Education Program is to help the children develop to their fullest capability, setting them on a path for long-term success. Mom’s House proudly brags that 96% of children leaving their program are Kindergarten-ready. The comprehensive program not only offers formal early childhood support in the classroom, but also helps educate the moms so that learning can extend into the home environment as well.
Unfortunately, Mom’s House continues to have a waiting list. The need for these services is at an all-time high as the board of directors continues to strive for growth. The two-generation program has shattered statistics and broken barriers for hundreds of families in Toledo.