Jazmin’s Story

“New Moms gets to know you.”

Jazmin was eight months pregnant with her second son when she moved to Chicago from Mexico. She said connecting with New Moms gave her a community to rely on and helped her get settled into a new country.

“New Moms isn’t just ‘you get Pampers and wipies,’” said Jazmin, the proud mother of Jonathan (5) and Allen (3). “You can have a person to talk, to open up to, to hear you and not judge you. And some of the other participants, or even the coaches, they can share personal experiences with you too. You build friendships. It makes me feel like I’m not the only one on this journey.”

Over the last few years, Jazmin has worked with her New Moms coaches to securing housing, buy a car, and find reliable childcare so she could start a new job. Her future goals include creating a formal house budget and savings plan with the help of her current coach, Magy.

Jazmin is most proud of learning to be kind to herself during her time at New Moms and realizing that no one is a perfect parent.

“I’m not the only one that struggles,” said the 26-year-old Jazmin. “You learn through your journey. You’re not a bad mom if you don’t know how to do stuff. You’re learning while you’re raising your kids. New Moms teaches you that you’re not alone. If you have questions or problems, they’re there.”

Jazmin said her favorite part of the Family Support program is the parent support groups where young moms come together to learn from and take comfort in each other. Once one person “opened up their heart” everyone felt more comfortable she said.

Because of the pandemic, New Moms’ parent support groups have switched from in-person to virtual which Jazmin said has been a hard adjustment. She said it’s difficult for moms to open up on camera and that after almost a year, everyone is experiencing Zoom fatigue.

“On Zoom it’s like, ‘does anybody have a question?’ and everyone is like ‘no.’ That’s the difference,” Jazmin said. “Even if we still try to have the communication through Zoom, I feel like it’s not the same, but everybody still tries.”

Despite all of the changes to programs, Jazmin said she is grateful that New Moms stayed open during the pandemic – adjusting services rather than shutting down completely.

“I just thank God that New Moms didn’t close because a lot of stuff closed due to COVID. Hopefully, it gets better, and we can do things together again.”