Maggie's Place 2022 Community Impact Report

MISSION

Maggie’s Place welcomes pregnant and parenting women and their children into a safe and loving community, providing life-changing programs and ongoing services to help them to become self-sufficient.

FROM THE CEO

The foundation of Maggie’s Place is our core values: love, hospitality, community, and excellence. “Love lives here” captures all of them. These three little words transform lives. Moms, AmeriCorps members and staff all change when they join the Maggie’s Place Community.

2022 was a year to reset and move on from COVID. During COVID we reduced capacity at each home to accommodate isolation/quarantine. In April we lifted the restriction and filled our homes to capacity. The Family Success Center expanded programming, welcoming mothers and children for classes, workshops, infant safety, support groups and fellowship. Anyone who knows us knows our love language is food and welcoming families into our homes. Chef Jeff has perfected the pancake breakfast for 200!

Over the past 22 years more than 1,100 moms have lived in one of our homes and 680 babies have called Maggie’s Place their first home. Thank you for your support, we could not have stayed open through COVID without your financial investments, time and talent, commitments and prayers.

With gratitude,

Laura Magruder, M.Ed. Chief Executive Officer

FROM THE INCOMING CHAIR

When asked “So what is Maggie’s Place anyway?,” my usual response contains the words “houses of hospitality.” The more I think about those words, which accurately describe Maggie’s Place, the more I realize they do not tell the whole story. Maggie’s Place is more than houses; we are a home. And yes we provide hospitality, but more than that we show love. For these reasons, we have adopted the theme “Love lives here” for our Community Impact Report. I invite you to explore the pages that follow, and learn the many ways that you, through the hard work of Maggie’s Place’s staff and volunteers, are ensuring that love remains alive and present in our homes and programs. From the simplicity of a food bag or a bus pass to the careful counseling and support services of addiction recovery, love truly does live here. Along with the entire board of directors and with a humble heart, we offer sincere thanks for your ongoing and generous support. You are an important reason why we can continue to ensure that at Maggie’s Place, love lives here.

John Scola, Chair Board of Directors

FROM THE CHAIR

During 2022, Maggie’s Place was able to operate in a more “normal” manner as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lessened. We were able to provide more in-person programs and services in our homes and at our Family Success Center. However, there were certainly other increasing challenges that our moms and their babies needed to deal with throughout the year.

In response to the weakening economy and increasing inflation, we provided our moms with help with public transportation passes, food bags, and even with initial housing costs as they move on from our homes and become more self-sufficient. And in the face of the continued spread of harmful and deadly drugs in the areas we serve, we increased our substance abuse counseling and sober living programs for our moms (who are often in the early stages of sobriety) – all while continuing to provide much needed shelter, services, life-skills training, and love to our moms and their babies. Once again in 2022, our moms and our staff showed great flexibility and resiliency in caring for themselves, their infants, and each other. And throughout the year, all of us involved with Maggie’s Place focused on living out one of our core values that “Love

Lives Here.”

During this past year, we were able to build on the increasing recognition by more entities and individuals of the value of the services and support that Maggie’s Place provides to pregnant women and their babies, who are clearly a vulnerable group, yet who also continue to show their own great strength and perseverance as they seek to create more self-sufficient lives for themselves and their children. We continue to be blessed by support from an increasingly broad array of public entities, private foundations, corporations, and private individuals as we seek to increase our physical, programmatic, and organizational capacity to further our mission, in the face of increasing demand, of helping homeless pregnant women and their babies.

So, it is with a great amount of humility and gratitude, that I, on behalf of the Board of Directors, say thank you to all who support Maggie’s Place and our work.

Gerry Stenson Board Chair

“Maggie’s Place was the biggest miracle I could have ever hoped for... I would not be where I am today without the love and support I got from them.”

MEGAN’S STORY

As Featured in Together Let Us Go Forth Magazine

BY JOYCE CORONEL; PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSEPH PILLADO

Pregnant, alone and rocked by anxiety, Megan tried her best to hide the morning sickness from staff at the halfway house where she was staying.

It wasn’t easy.

“I was just coming out of the darkest time of my life, and I was kind of freaking out because one of the rules there was you couldn’t be pregnant,” Megan said.

“I was scared. I really don’t know where I would be at

all without Maggie’s Place just because life itself was so overwhelming at that time. I was just a bunch of emotions when I found out I was pregnant.”

Maggie’s Place, a Phoenix-based non-profit, operates four maternity homes and two transitional apartment complexes for struggling women who are pregnant and homeless. Women can move in when they’re expecting and stay until their child turns 1 year old. While living there, the women develop goals and learn how to be self-sufficient.

It’s a godsend for moms like Megan who have nowhere else to turn. Since its founding in 2000, more than 1,100 women have lived in a Maggie’s Place home. Megan is one of them.

After two years of sleeping in her car or at friends’ houses, she was out of options when she got pregnant with Michael.

Cradling her now two-and-a-half-year-old son and sitting at the Maggie’s Place Family Success Center in Central Phoenix, an observer would be hard-pressed to discern that the attractive, confident young woman whose story pours forth with laughter and smiles once battled substance abuse and homelessness.

Megan was six months sober when a friend told her about Maggie’s Place.

plus all the other living expenses that eat up a paycheck, she had time to grow as a person.

“All of that is taken away when you’re in the house so you can focus on figuring everything else out. That big anxiety was taken away.”

She didn’t have a vehicle at the time, but she was given a bus pass. “That right there was another $30-$40 a month that I was able to not have to worry about and save.”

Living at Maggie’s Place, Megan also learned how to be part of a community.

“It forces you to learn how to monitor yourself and work with other people, which was good. I mean, it’s a lifelong skill. When you’re not really productive in society, you don’t really care

“When I first moved in, I shared a room with another mom,” Megan said. She’d gone from splitting a room with three other people at the halfway house to sharing a room with just one other expectant mom.

“I was like, this is amazing!” Megan said. And then there was the shampoo incident.

The Maggie’s Place donation closet provided personal hygiene items like shampoo and conditioner — and not the crummy kind, either. Relieved she didn’t have to pay $6 for a bottle of shampoo, Megan realized something: People actually cared about her.

She learned something else, too. Not having to worry about keeping a roof over her head or how she was going to survive paying for diapers, baby clothes and household supplies

about getting along with other people.”

Maggie’s Place moms are given chores which rotate on a weekly basis. They also sit down at least twice a month with an AmeriCorps member who lives in the home alongside the moms and helps them develop a plan for reaching their goals.

Each Maggie’s Place mom also has a contact person (another AmeriCorps member) who walks them through the Seeking Safety program. The curriculum teaches the women how to set boundaries and how to pick up on red flags.

Perhaps the biggest lesson Megan learned while living at Maggie’s Place was that she mattered.

“There’s a lot that I learned about myself, but

IT’S LOVE, REALLY, THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING. AND IT ALL STARTED AT MAGGIE’S PLACE.

the biggest thing I guess is that I’m worth, like, whatever,” Megan said. “That I’m worth having love, that I’m valued and respected as a person … that it’s OK for me to think or have different wants than other people and that I can still be really good friends with you and we’re nothing alike.”

It’s a big change from the way things were when she first showed up at Maggie’s Place three years ago. Back then, she said, “I didn’t know anything about real life really, like how to be sober and just operate normally.”

Maggie’s Place residents attend classes to help them develop the skill set they’ll need to make it once they leave. Childcare is provided while they study topics such as how to handle money or how to prepare a meal. There’s also time to attend group sessions or pursue self-expression through art journaling or crafts. Even after they graduate and move out, alumni moms can attend weekly support group meetings and social events with childcare and dinner provided.

“The really cool thing about Maggie’s Place is that they support you as a mom and your kid, but they also support you as you,” Megan said.

Today, Megan is halfway through nursing school. Michael, the 2-year-old, has his own highlighters

and his mom’s old textbooks to “study” while she pours over coursework. Jaxon, Megan’s second child, gurgles and smiles. He’ll be crawling soon.

Megan works part time as a Certified Nursing Assistant and also serves as a peer support specialist at Maggie’s Place. What’s it like trying to balance all that?

“Chaos!” Megan laughs. She’s learned to take life in stride, to be part of a caring community and to face her challenges with courage. As a peer support specialist, she’s providing mom-to-mom counseling for women going through the process she experienced. She’s that “one person” many young women don’t have in their lives, the one person who “gets it.”

“I know what it’s like not to have anyone in my corner like that,” Megan said.

Today, the twenty-something mother of two is thriving and giving back to the organization that rescued her. From having no one to suddenly being the go-to person for other moms, Megan has conquered her fears and found hope.

It’s love, really, that changed everything. And it all started at Maggie’s Place.

BALANCE IN WELLNESS

Creating a plan for overall wellness can be overwhelming and daunting. Through individualized case management as well as an array of opportunities for moms to authentically participate in therapeutic groups and services, Maggie’s Place moms continue to solidify a healthy foundation during their time at Maggie’s Place homes and beyond.

• Full time Licensed Substance Abuse Counselor on staff

• Sober Living activities

• Therapeutic partnerships for moms to participate in an array of individual therapies

• SMART Recovery

• Relationship 101

• DCS Support group

• Grief Support groups

• Peer Support services

• Seeking Safety sessions

IN 2022, MOMS PARTICIPATED IN 1,951 CLASSES, SUPPORT GROUPS, AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES.

SERVICE TO OUR MOMS, BABIES & FAMILIES

39,106

1,168 MOMS HAVE LIVED IN A MAGGIE’S PLACE HOME SINCE WE OPENED IN 2000

INFLATION INTO IMPACT

Increased services to meet the needs of families.

1,053 VISITS TO THE FAMILY SUCCESS CENTER IN 2022 FOR ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL NEEDS INCLUDING:

• Food pantry

• Baby formula

• Baby hygiene items and diapers/wipes

• Bus Passes

• Showers and Laundry

HOUSING NAVIGATION

A Point in the Right Direction

Securing stable housing after a mom’s stay in a Maggie’s Place home is essential for her ability to gain independence and continue to pave the way to a successful future.

In 2022, Maggie’s Place invested in hiring a full time Housing Stability Specialist who not only supports moms exiting the maternity homes, but also supports alumni moms who are in a housing transition or crisis.

HOUSING NAVIGATION SUPPORT SERVICES:

• Credit repair coaching and budgeting

• Application assistance

• Document preparation support

• Prospective transitional housing assessments

• Utility and move in financial assistance

• Coordination of move in assistance

MARY APARTMENT RENOVATIONS

Thanks to an incredibly generous gift from Driven to Care (Discount Tire), Maggie’s Place was able to make substantial renovations and improvements to our The Mary Apartments, which focus on providing safe and stable housing to our moms who are working on family reunification.

2022 FORMULA SHORTAGE

We Asked and You Answered

All of a sudden there was no formula on store shelves, anywhere. Due to global supply chain issues, widespread recalls and production plant shutdowns, moms of formula fed babies were frantic to find formula. It was time to act.

Maggie’s Place sent ONE email to our constituent base and was able to stock and distribute more than $30,000 worth of instant and toddler formula in 3 weeks. Because of hundreds of individuals and dozens of organizations, moms had access to formula on demand. We are so grateful.

MAGGIE’S THRIFT Workforce Development

Maggie’s Thrift is the home of the Maggie’s Place Workforce Development Program, and of course unique boutique items for sale to the public.

Located in the heart of Phoenix’s historic district, proceeds from Maggie’s Thrift support the essential services we provide to our moms.

Moms who are living in one of our maternity homes are able to participate in the Workforce Development Program. Through individualized curriculum, one on one coaching and mentoring, and paid work experience opportunities, moms gain valuable soft skills and work experience.

Our heartfelt thank you and gratitude goes to the following AmeriCorps grateful for all of the support. Service Members who generously contributed their time, passion and unwavering support to the work of Maggie’s Place in 2022.

Yearlong 21/22 Members

Sarina Abraham, Nayo Daniel, Rachel Furlan, Rachel Keller, Jazzlyn Kwapong, Ashanti Leach, Paulina Martin, Kirsten Miller, Maddy Pimental, Salwa Raheel, Natalie Roh, Anna Thomas, Katie Vickers

2 Year Service Members

Diana Gioia, Barr Lavi-Romer, Julia Manuel

Current Yearlong 22/23 Members

Maggie Baker, Olivia Carbone, Samantha Girasulo, Maggy Hovden, Jessica Ingram, Katie Kolodziej, Isabella Karnuta, Megan Pezak, Maggie Schulhoff, Maria Valencia

Summer Members

Margot Eversdyke, Melanie Lang, Tierra Whitley

FINANCIAL

Because of the generosity of our community in 2022, Maggie’s Place was able to continue to provide exemplary services to our maternity homes, alumni moms and the families we serve. Our sincerest gratitude to each and every individual donor, organization, group, church, business, grant funder, volunteer and foundation who continue to invest in our work.

REVENUE $4,202,496

On behalf of more than 1,100 moms and 680 babies who have called Maggie’s Place home - We are so grateful!

Maggie’s Place believes that accountability and transparency are key to effective programming and organizational health. We place priority on integrity in our finances and programmatic activity, and implement the best nonprofit business practices under the supervision of our Board of Directors. A copy of our most recent 990 can be found on our website.

59% 35%

Grants

Private Contributions and Fundraising

3% 3% EXPENSES $3,723,559

Other Income

21% Programmatic

Administrative 9% Fundraising

70%

Financials are unaudited.

Maggie’s Thrift

VOLUNTEERS

St. Patrick’s Volunteers

For more than twenty years, volunteers from St. Patrick Catholic Community have been volunteering at The Magdalene House. Led by longtime Maggie’s Place supporter, Vicki Randall, these volunteers help with regular meal delivery, house coverage and general duties at Magdalene. Thank you Vicki and all our selfless volunteers from St. Pat’s!

U.S.Bank

U.S. Bank has been a long time supporter of our work. From helping underwrite our annual Mother’s Day celebration, consistently having groups volunteer at our events and even bringing out The Good Truck to distribute flowers to our moms - thank you U.S. Bank!

Thank you to the more than 300 volunteers who supported our work in 2022 by serving in our homes, at Maggie's Thrift and at the Family Success Center.

GRANT PARTNERS

Bainum Family Foundation

Barry Family Charitable Fund

Bobb Family Foundation

Burba Family Foundation

The Dodson Family Foundation

Garcia Family Foundation

Haehn Foundation

JW Kieckhefer Foundation

Kemper & Ethel Marley Foundation

Neely Foundation

Norton Family Foundation

The Steve & Lois Mihaylo Foundation

Alan & Wendy Wilson