A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend a “Power Breakfast,” to help raise awareness and money for a very imperative charity organization called “Room to Grow.” I am sharing information about Room to Grow here for our readers who may need their services, or whom may be in a position to help volunteer or donate to it. Both are irrefutably positive, and the idea behind the organization is critical in a major city like New York, where it proudly services all five boroughs. Room to Grow helps build a “strong foundation for babies in poverty.” This means that they help their designated families for the first three years of the child’s life, which is considered to be an incredibly crucial building- block period for emotional, intellectual, and physical development. Families graduate after three years in the program with the tools, knowledge, parenting strategies, and resources they need to continue providing a safe and enriching home environment for their children. As their website states,” parents are referred to the organization by a network of prenatal programs assisting low-income families. Upon their referral, families visit Room to Grow’s warm and inviting space once every three months from just before the birth of the baby until their child turns three. During their one-on-one appointments with their staff social workers, typically lasting two hours, parents receive developmental information, customized support, and all of the needed baby items to ensure a healthy and secure start for their child.”
We were able to connect with Elaine Chow, the Director of Communications & Community Relations for Room to Grow, after the breakfast, and find out more about this necessary organization. Elaine manages the in-kind donor base through collection drives and corporate giving. Room to Grow is located in New York and Boston, so Elaine was able to share some information with us here.
Room to Grow was founded in 1998 in New York City by Julie Burns to address a gap in services available to low-income families raising babies from newborn to three years old. Prior to that, she worked as a psychotherapist in the child and adolescent division of the Karen Horney Clinic in New York. It was there where she developed the concept for Room to Grow, recognizing the need to help soon-to-be parents living in poverty, by providing them with direct support, education, and resources for their children in the earliest critical years. Room to Grow in Boston is currently celebrating ten years of service!
When I asked Elaine how families are chosen by Room to Grow, she answered, “Families are referred to Room to Grow during a mother’s third trimester of pregnancy through a select partner network of prenatal clinical and hospitals serving low-income families in New York City. Our referral partners use the following criteria in referring families to Room to Grow: an extreme financial need; a desire for parenting support and information; an ability to commit to a three-year program; and, an ability to begin the program before their baby is born. The first years of life are an especially critical time in which a baby’s brain development and overall well-being are particularly influenced by their environment. Our research informed, three-year program model is designed to cultivate long-term change in families, targeting child development, parenting knowledge, and family stability — increasing the probability that children will enter school ready to learn, and meet their full potential in education, work, and citizenship, thereby breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Through one-on-one sessions, Room to Grow social workers provide families with parent education and coaching, essential infant and toddler items (books, toys, clothing and equipment), and referrals to community-based services, such as job placement centers, GED classes, and early intervention programs.The referrals help our families build their own local network of support by the time they graduate, connections that will provide ongoing security and help them overcome future challenges.”
Room to Grow’s upcoming projects include a renewed commitment to our Family Center through capital improvements, and deeper investment in programmatic infrastructure to help articulate their program impact and measure results. It serves nearly 400 babies and their families annually in New York. Their two social workers each carry a caseload of 150 families. And when a families graduates from the program, new families join the program. The organization has an incredible staff, and is very dedicated to serving its families.
We have a great team who are passionate about our mission (to enrich the lives of babies born into poverty throughout their critical first three years of development.) We strive to serve families with dignity and respect, in a warm, welcoming, and nurturing environment. When positions are available at Room to Grow, we post on our website and industry related boards like Idealist.org, seeking qualified applicants who feel strongly about the work we do.”
Please consider donating to, or getting involved with this organization (including volunteering!), it’s a wonderful way to actually make a huge difference in the lives of those who honestly need it.
Image courtesy of Room to Grow. Credit: Justine Cooper Photography
Rebecca Conroy is an artist, stylist, and Editor of A Child Grows in Brooklyn. She is from New York City, and has an MFA from Columbia University in screenwriting. Rebecca often finds herself on film and photography sets making things run or look better, and is the mom of two outrageously wonderful kids.
