Urban Baby Beginnings: How Maternal Support Improves Generational Outcomes
Partner Spotlights are a platform for Robins Foundation grantees to highlight their important work and for Robins Foundation to recognize the incredible efforts and successes of our partners. This month, our Administrative and Operations Coordinator, Annaliese Santana interviewed Stephanie Spencer, founder and executive director of Urban Baby Beginnings for our Partner Spotlight. Since 1994, Urban Baby Beginnings has generated transformational change for parenting and pregnant individuals across Virginia.
In 2023 alone, Urban Baby Beginnings served over 9,000 families. They did so in partnership with three local hospital systems, two clinical operations, nine independent providers, and within their four standalone maternal health hubs. In her interview, Stephanie provided captivating insights on the importance of improving generational outcomes through personalized care and maternal support groups.
Can you please describe, at a high level, what Urban Baby Beginnings does?
Urban Baby Beginnings is a maternal health hub that focuses on reducing adverse outcomes and experiences for families during the prenatal, postpartum, and early childhood years. In short, what we do is we provide support, education, and advocacy for pregnant and postpartum people and their children up to the age of three.
Urban Baby Beginnings curates communities of support through resources such as pregnancy and early parenting navigation services. Can you elaborate on some of the specific resources your organization provides?
At Urban Baby Beginnings, we provide early childhood education for children in their homes and within our maternal hub settings. Through our “care navigation” services, we connect pregnant and parenting people with health promoters, community health workers, and doulas that provide social and advocacy support. Within our maternal hub, we provide individuals with diapers, car seats, and other baby essentials on a need-basis. In these maternal hubs, people can also access our “Sisters Keepers” groups. These are in-person social support groups where moms and babies can commune with one another; all of whom are seeking safer and better outcomes for themselves and their children.
How have families flourished as a result of the Sisters Keepers groups at Urban Baby Beginnings?
We’ve been running social support groups for a long time. We just had a group two weeks ago with 14 moms and 15 babies in attendance. One of the things they talked about was the lack of community-based resources that provide communal spaces for parents that look like them and have young children. One young lady talked about how, before finding us, she did not get the support and services she needed. She also talked about how good it felt to get out of the house and be around other mothers.
These social groups help mothers feel validated. As mothers, sometimes our child will experience something and we want to ask, “Is that normal? Did you experience something like that?” It’s nice to hear another mother say, “Yeah, this is how I got through it.” Interactions like this normalize the experience of motherhood. So, we know these social groups matter and they make a difference in how moms feel and engage. As a result of these groups, many people have made lifelong friendships.
What motivates you to do this work?
I’m a grandmother, people don’t believe me, but I am. So, my goal is to mitigate change for our children and create better generational outcomes. I want to reimagine a system of care where no one falls through the cracks; one where the workforce, parents, and babies are supported. What keeps me going is my understanding that we all are special in who we are and we all have something important to offer. At Urban Baby Beginnings, we ensure everybody’s thriving and no one’s left behind.
It’s important to remember that Urban Baby Beginnings provides a system of support that is built by mothers and the community. When I talk about Urban Baby Beginnings, I’m not just talking about my contributions to the organization. I’m talking about collective community efforts. Overall, I always want people to remember that Urban Baby Beginnings represents the hearts and souls of mothers.
You talked about influencing generational outcomes in the healthcare system. Throughout your career, how have you seen healthcare evolve?
When I had my first baby in 1990, maternal care was not personalized and information wasn’t easily accessible. I remember going to clinics and it was about, “Is the baby growing?” “Am I having any challenges? No? Then go on about your way.” I needed a better understanding of breastfeeding, childbirth, and how to advance my child’s development. Since then, healthcare has really changed. In many ways, healthcare has become social care. Many hospitals changed the way they engage with their social support networks and increased their use of doulas and community health workers. Many hospitals are also reevaluating their internal systems and evolving based on public demand. However, there have been a lot of hospital closures, specifically hospitals with delivery units. So now, many people must drive an hour or more to access care, which is a big issue.
What do you wish more people understood about the community you serve or the work that you do?
Nobody wakes up and says “I want to be the worst parent and have a terrible pregnancy.” Every parent wants the best outcome for their child and themselves. If everyone acknowledges that, then we can create transformational change in maternal health and early childhood development. However, if we continue to operate under a system of bias and fail to recognize the true issues surrounding the challenges that parents face, we will never get where we need to be.
How has Robins Foundation’s support helped you address needs in the community?
Several years ago, Robins Foundation provided us funding to strengthen our partnerships with a local hospital and ensure their patients could access Urban Baby Beginnings’ resources. That support was a catalyst for us expanding our impact and increasing our home visiting services. Robins Foundation also provided us funding for our maternal health hub in 2020. At that time, Urban Baby Beginnings released its first video informing people that 60% of all maternal deaths are preventable. Robins Foundation should take pride in funding maternal health. In this, you’re communicating that mothers are an important component within the early childhood space.
Is there anything specific that you would like to promote in this interview that I could include in the article later?
Urban Baby Beginnings will partner with a hospital in Petersburg starting January 1st, 2025, which will help us reach more parenting and pregnant individuals there. As far as the Central Virginia location, our Sisters Keepers groups are open to everyone.They just have to register on our website. Finally, we also offer a diaper crisis program in Central Virginia. So, if a family is in need and calls Urban Baby Beginnings, we connect them to our programming so they can come to our hub to pick up the items they need.
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To learn more about Urban Baby Beginnings and how you can become part of their maternal hub, please visit https://urbanbabybeginnings.org/
