by Chelsea Chateauvert

Friends of the New York City Nurse-Family Partnership (Friends) has been operating for a little over five years and one of the main tenets of our work is removing the financial barriers that first-time, low-income moms in the NFP program face. Because of the generosity of our donors, we can channel funds to help them go back to school, address financial stress and break the cycle of poverty. . Heart’s Desire Awardees are vetted and recommended by their nurse and, through that connection, are given an opportunity to apply for funding from Friends. This method of giving money to mothers may seem out of the ordinary or risky but it is a method of support that in recent years has been gaining a lot of traction in big cities. 

Recently, the New York Times published two articles highlighting this exact practice. One article stated, “A study that provided poor mothers with cash stipends for the first year of their children’s lives appears to have changed the babies’ brain activity in ways associated with stronger cognitive development,” and this is exactly what we do (DeParle). We provide mothers with funding through the first two years of their babies life. The article goes on to state, “evidence that a single year of subsidies could alter something as profound as brain functioning highlights the role that money may play in child development.” Friends firmly believes the toxic stress from poverty impedes a child’s ability to thrive. Our work is aimed towards a final goal of lifting mothers out of poverty and in turn, their babies. The mothers in our program are given funding with the freedom to decide where and how they will use it. We believe in our mothers and that they are the only ones who can make those decisions for their babies. Many studies show that poverty can hold children back in the earliest stages of life. By helping moms to climb out of poverty, we’re helping their babies get a better start in life. 

The Bridge Project is a similar organization providing funds to low-income families. It is a $16Million effort funded by venture capitalists to measure the effect of regular, unconditional stipends on low-income families. Their studies eventually hope to show how continued unconditional income to a mom and family will help to change the course of a baby’s life when born into poverty. Our work is similar, however, our partnership with NFP and a 40-year proven program really enables us to help moms not only provide a healthy start for their families but envision a stronger future. The moms in our program have proven their commitment to bettering themselves and their babies through education and entrepreneurship and our work gives them the confidence to believe in themselves. 99% of the moms in our programs successfully achieve their goals when given funds from our Heart’s Desire Program. So though we may fall in the category of guaranteed-income* as described in the New York Times article, How $1,000 a Month in Guaranteed Income Is Helping N.Y.C. Mothers by Andy Newman, our mothers are given the added benefit of guidance and other program support catered towards first-time moms. 

Mothers are the backbone of our society. They raise our children and run the homes, they work in important jobs (and many times more than one) on top of their role as mom and they do it all with grace. The pandemic has laid bare the limited support available for moms along with the lack of childcare options and mental health care. Moms are doing it all and our supporters are the village it takes to make it possible. We are honored to be able to provide a little support for the ones that need it most and thank you for joining us in our efforts to help lift the low-income, first-time mothers and their babies out of poverty and onto a better future. 

*The central idea of the guaranteed-income movement is that the most effective treatment for poverty is to simply give people money and let them decide what to do with it, rather than impose the rules, limitations, and bureaucratic hoops that come with most safety-net programs.

1. DeParle, Kason. “Cash Aid to Poor Mothers Increases Brain Activity in Babies, Study Finds” New York Times January 24, 2022 (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/us/politics/child-tax-credit-brain-function.html)
2. Newman, Andy. “How $1,000 a Month in Guaranteed Income Is Helping N.Y.C. Mothers.” New York Times. January 18, 2022. (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/nyregion/guaranteed-income-nyc-bridge-project.html)

Friends of New York City Nurse Family Partnership announced in July the appointment of two new members to its board of directors. “This is a large step in the growth of the organization,” said Karin Romans, who was appointed Executive Director in January. 

The board is helmed by Susan Orkin, Co-Founder and Board President. “In founding Friends, Susan sought to level the playing field for first-time, low-income mothers. I’m glad to see our organization evolve under her leadership,” said Romans. “Our board is composed of a group of talented professionals who have dedicated their time to ensuring moms and babies get the support they need when they need it most: the early years. I am excited to see Rebekah and Christina channel their incredible skills, expertise, and energy into furthering our mission.”

“The mission of Friends is to support moms in the evidence-based Nurse Family Partnership program, which pairs a nurse with a first-time mother from pregnancy until the child is age 2. Susan says “I created Friends because I learned that there were no individual contributions coming into NFP–the best anti-poverty program I had seen in a 30-year social work career and I thought that money was being left on the table. In the past five years, we have supported clients and nurses in NFP with close to half a million dollars.” In the past year, we’ve added some modest staff and must build sustainability and capacity to continue to support NFP moms in creating financial stability for their families. I am excited to welcome our new board members who will help us accomplish this goal!” said Susan Orkin, Board President.

Below is a brief introduction of the two members:

Christina White, CPA is a director at PwC with more than 12 year of experience providing accounting audit and business advisory services to both emerging growth companies and multinational companies within the technology, media & entertainment industries.

Rebekah Wahba is the Global Head of Client Data at BlackRock. She has spent two decades working at the intersection of financial services and technology. 

This brings the number of board members to twelve. Friends’ Board of Directors also includes: Susan Orkin, Christine Wasserstein, Susan Chinitz, Henry Mascia, Ellen Cohen, Faiza Issa, Mia Lipsit, Brittany Richards, Linda Rothenberg Stein, and Ariane Tschumi.

Will one of our awardees found the next Sears Roebuck, Macy’s or Nieman Marcus?

In preparing for a trip to Texas for my nephew’s wedding, my husband and I decided that we would visit the grave of my great-grandfather in San Antonio. Growing up, I knew only that his business “outfitted riders for the Sante Fe trail.” Recently, I learned that he had left Germany in the 1840s because of restrictions and conditions there that did not allow Jews to thrive. The only trade that they were allowed was leathercrafting.

Sure enough, in America, he was able to use that craft to found a very successful business: 

L-Frank Saddlery that still exists today under a different name. It first became Straus-Frank and now Strafco and has moved from making saddles and collars for horses to distributing auto parts, tires and more. Many of the great department stores were similarly founded by Jews who came here as peddlers (having been restricted to the “rag business”) and parlayed their talents to founding most of the major department stores that we know. 

Sadly, in America today, how many people are deprived of the opportunity to use their talents because they cannot scrape together the money to mount even the lowest rung of a ladder out of poverty? Hopefully, America is now awakening to systemic inequities that create barriers for talented people. The situation is not only a matter of injustice but should also be a matter of self-interest for all of us because our population growth is declining. We desperately need healthy adults – physically, mentally and socially. But babies whose families suffer the insults of poverty will not become the productive adults that we desperately need because they are stunted even while in the womb from the stresses and deprivations that afflict their parents.

Maybe one day government programs to help these families will be so plentiful that there will be no need for Friends. But, for now, you have helped over 300 women remove financial barriers that prevent them from earning enough to provide a healthful environment for their families. Women like Jannelys who came here from Venezuela in 2018 equipped with an engineering degree. She intended to spend time learning English and then go into engineering. But she became pregnant, could not work full time and took a job as a waitress until extreme nausea made even that impossible. After the baby’s birth, she and her partner tried to schedule alternating shifts to take care of the baby, but didn’t work either. 

In Venezuela, she had operated a craft business and dreamed of doing that. But she had absolutely no money to pay for the equipment she needed. Her nurse told her about Heart’s Desire, “this awesome program.” Just $700 paid for the tools she needed. A year later she came back to us because the business was flourishing but with the baby’s expenses and the pandemic limiting her husband’s work hours, she had no money to license and brand it. Another $500 from us resolved that problem.

Watch here.

Imagine you’re a single mother. Your newborn baby Anna is taking her afternoon nap, so you decide it’s time for your first meal of the day. Your stomach reminds you it’s time for lunch, but your cabinets tell another story—the fridge is nearly empty, your shelves are bare. 

How are you going to make it through another week? 

Going to the food bank with a newborn is hard enough outside of a pandemic. The closest one is a bus ride away (and even on a slow day there’s a line out the door). Now, with over 1.5 million New Yorkers relying on food banks, you could be stuck waiting in line for hours. Forced to go home empty handed when your baby starts to get fussy. 

Last March, new moms experiencing poverty were already struggling to provide for their families. When the crisis struck, hundreds of women—who were already financially stressed—were unable to buy diapers for their babies or put food on the table. Shelves were bare, prices soared. Some clients were sick and could not leave the house. And food pantries weren’t prepared for the increase in demand, either.  

That’s where the Friends community stepped in. We could’ve never imagined the impact we’d have together. 

Helping families survive the pandemic 

With pandemic closures came distressing job losses. Women who received Heart’s Desire scholarships for their degrees and started a job in the beginning of March were now left without an income. Friends of NYC NFP shifted resources to meet urgent needs. 

As NFP nurses scrambled to assess clients’ needs, the Friends community stepped up to support—ready to build a safety net for the families who needed it most. Femida Dharsee, RN and a former nurse supervisor for NYC’s Nurse-Family Partnership, said the pandemic brought so much uncertainty for the clients, but Friends stepped in when they needed it most:

“The Emergency Fund was the best thing that happened for our program during the pandemic. We’re so very grateful.”
— Femida Dharsee, Nurse Supervisor

“We weren’t equipped for what came,” she said, “but Friends of NYC NFP stepped in on time.”

Our generous community stepped up at such a critical time. Because of our supporters, over 400 families experiencing poverty were able to buy groceries and essentials for their families. Every dollar made a real impact on individual families across New York City. 

Kickstarting financial stability for NYC families 

As new and expectant moms, women in the NFP program are determined to sustain their family financially. Over 70 percent of NFP clients want to pursue higher education or certification programs, but they usually can’t afford the cost of tuition or books.

Nurses have a special relationship with the women in the NFP program, and they encourage their clients to apply for the Heart’s Desire Fund. “What Friends is helping do is targeting the right people who really need the help,” Femida says.  

Femida says Friends is playing a huge part in launching women’s careers through the Heart’s Desire Fund: “There have been so many women who have been empowered to do what they want to do.” 

Poverty starts to negatively impact brain development before a child is even born. Financial assistance empowers women in the NFP program to launch their careers and break the cycle of poverty for their children. Financial assistance also reduces stress and allows women to devote their emotional energy and attention to their children during the critical, earliest years.

Femida knows the impact of Friends is powerful, she says: “What we’re doing may not show; the difference we’re making on each individual. But just having clients graduate with that additional financial stability is powerful. That’s what makes us appreciate this fund so much. It has met a need that we were not otherwise able to fulfill.” 

“We are making a difference in New York City, be it a drop at a time. But guess what? A lot of drops will make a spoonful or a cupful eventually.” — Femida Dharsee, Nurse Supervisor

Transforming the community together 

Moms in the NFP program are creating a better future for their children—doing whatever it takes to provide for their families and become financially independent. With the support of NFP nurses and the Friends of NYC NFP community, moms are empowered to change the course of their children’s lives by taking just one step in the right direction. Like Femida says: “At the end of the day, we’re strengthening our community.” 

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Friends works side by side with NYC’s Nurse-Family Partnership to empower new moms experiencing poverty to create a better future for their children. Find out how you can get involved today. 

Having a baby doesn’t mean you have to put your dreams aside. 

With a Heart’s Desire grant, Jazmin Williams was empowered to grow her baking business and realize her dreams.

Putting her career on hold  

Jazmin had a job as a trained chef. With years of experience in restaurants and catering halls, she had intended to return to her job after delivering her baby. But complications from a C-section derailed her plan.

Between her recovery, breastfeeding her newborn, and the expense of childcare, Jazmin needed to stay home with baby Kyler. 

She started offering baked goods and savory meals to family and friends, and when they told her how much they loved the treats, Jazmin got the push she needed to start her own catering business.

Asking for support 

What started with a handful of orders and making doughs from home by hand, evolved into a small business.  “The community began supporting me,” Jazmin shares. 

She knew she had so much more to offer, but couldn’t afford the supplies to grow her business. She turned to her NFP nurse: “I had a discussion with my nurse where I was discussing my passions and my goals and I did disclose to her that my ultimate goal was to start my own catering company to make delicious treats to share with people across the globe.”

Making ends meet for her family of three was difficult enough. Saving up for her own laptop and electric mixer would have taken at least a year, if not more. With her NFP nurse encouraging her, Jazmin applied for the Heart’s Desire Awards.

“The Heart’s Desire Program is a great help because, for so many people in my community, things like this are not feasible to us. We have these dreams and we just continue dreaming. And having that boost to fulfill that dream is amazing.”  

Seeing immediate business results 

After being granted $900 through Heart’s Desire, Jazmin was able to double her production with an electric mixer.  

“The mixer helped my business substantially because I was able to go from making two cakes per hour to four cakes per hour. It led to mass production and my orders being fulfilled faster.” 

When Kyler was 8 months old, Jazmin went back to work full-time to fund her main goal of building a business. She shared her baked goods with coworkers and management offered her a contract to bake the cakes for their regular employee birthday celebrations

Since her cakes were ready to decorate as orders came in, she was able to maintain her nine-to-five job while building the business.

Working towards her goals  

After she and her family relocated to Orlando, FL, Jazmin secured a job in loan servicing. She knows she’ll need a business loan for her business one day, and plans to learn everything she can about the industry so she’s more prepared when the time comes. 

“For now, because I have secured a good position, I will continue to work here until I feel my business can support me and my family full-time.”

“My ultimate goal is to work for myself, whether that’s with a food truck or a catering hall.” 

Jazmin is proud of how far her business has come since she had her baby. Without the help of Friends of NYC-NFP, she wouldn’t have been able to grow as quickly or feel as confident in her dream. 

“I’m getting a little choked up here even thinking about it. I am extremely grateful. I did apply for multiple grants before. Putting the application in and getting approved for the Heart’s Desire Award…I don’t have any more words.” 

Securing a better future 

Working alongside new and expectant moms, NFP nurses help NYC moms identify their long-term career goals and brainstorm action steps together. Friends of NYC-NFP steps in to break financial obstacles and empower moms to advance their careers. 

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Want to become an advocate for moms and babies? Join our caring community or find us on Instagram and Facebook @friendsofnycnfp

Gabby is  a 25 year old mom with an 18-month-old daughter living in the Bronx. Inspired by her experience with NFP, she dreams of becoming a nurse one day, but she can’t do it on her own. 

Finishing her nurse prerequisites 

Gabby was working tirelessly to complete the prerequisite courses she needed for the nursing program at her college. But, when she gave birth in September 2019, she had to take a break from her education to care for her baby. Now that her daughter, Anita, is 18 months old, Gabby is ready to continue her education.

Applying to the Heart’s Desire Fund  

Determination and perseverance weren’t going to be enough to cover the costs of going back to school. For Gabby, $900 and two textbooks stood in the way of starting her next course. On her own, she would’ve had to push back her start date until she could save the money.

Gabby was so excited to find out about Friends of NYC-NFP’s Heart’s Desire Awards from her nurse Nicole. Finally, she saw the next step on her path. 

“This award will take my financial and emotional hardships away.”

Gabby, NFP client and Heart’s Desire Awardee

Being courageous for her daughter

After over a year of staying home with a baby, Gabby is worried going back to school will be a challenging transition. It’s one thing to care for a one-year-old; a whole other to balance attending virtual classes and studying. 

“Even though school can make me nervous and at times anxious,” Gabby shared, “I enjoy being in school and hope to have the income in the future to continue my education and have a specialization in nursing.”

What NFP taught her about nursing 

Like all NFP nurses, Nicole has been a significant part of Gabby’s support system throughout the pregnancy and her child’s early development. Nicole helped ease Gabby into parenthood by supporting her through the emotional, physical, and social challenges of becoming a new parent.

Even after over a year of working together, Gabby leans on Nicole for knowledge and guidance in caring for her baby and finds support and encouragement for returning to school. 

Gabby is touched by how dedicated and caring Nicole has been throughout the NFP program: “When I have a meeting with Nicole over Zoom or phone call, I am reminded how amazing nurses can be by being so caring of their patients and dedicating their time to really check on them.”

That reminder inspired Gabby to work towards becoming a nurse one day. “Nicole has shown me what being a nurse is all about: truly being there for your patient, being compassionate to their needs, and providing the care they need.”

“I feel motivated and determined to finish school and become a nurse. I want to be able to provide the type of caring service I have received.” 

Gabby, NFP Client and Heart’s Desire Awardee

What the future holds 

Gabby’s ultimate goal is to finish her Associate’s degree in nursing and move on to her four-year college. “What I truly desire is to have a profession and be able to increase my income and provide for myself and my daughter.” 


Learn more about the Heart’s Desire Program and how you can help moms like Gabby.