Young Moms Graduate Into Future Leaders

Four young New Haven moms seeking out a village of support for their families celebrated finding exactly that, and so much more — as they became the latest cohort to graduate from a 20-week leadership training course.

That graduation ceremony took place Tuesday night for The Greater New Haven Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI), where young parents and caregivers 18 – 24 years old spend 20 weeks learning about legislation and policy making to build up their advocacy skills for their families and communities.

The program is facilitated by United Way of Greater New Haven and began last October. Tuesday’s graduation ceremony took place at ConnCAT at 4 Science Park.

Click here and here to read previous Independent articles about PLTI.

Tuesday’s four graduates, one of whom wasn’t present, were joined by family, mentors, and community leaders. 

The graduates include Indya Jones, Samantha Murray, Jonasia Brown, and Daiveyanah Taylor. 

Daiveyanah Taylor, 23, is a mother of a 10-month-old daughter as well as a caregiver for her 16-year-old brother. She said she had no idea joining the program would teach her how to reach lawmakers, alders, judges, and journalists. This will help her, she said, in advocating for education and mental health support for both her brother and her daughter. 

Before Taylor joined the program, she said, she didn’t have a support system from her family. She also had no cellphone or close friends to problem-solve with when issues came up.

In 20 weeks, Taylor’s support system has completely turned around. She’s built sister-like friendships with her fellow program participants, and now looks up to PLTI Site Coordinator JoAnne Wilcox like a mother.

“We’ve created our own village. I went from not really having friends to having a whole family,” Taylor said. 

Taylor was given a cellphone by her newly found friend, Jonasia Brown. Another new friend, Samantha Murray, voluntarily took her fellow participants to the grocery store to buy them needed groceries for their families. 

“I didn’t know there were people so kind in the world,” Taylor said Tuesday. 

PLTI provides transportation, childcare, food, and a stipend to participants. Taylor described those services as a ​“blessing in disguise.” 

She also noted that Wilcox has held her daughter more than her own mother ever has. ​“It didn’t matter how sad I ever was, because JoAnne is like a warm hug anytime I talk to her.”

For the program’s community project requirement for participants, Taylor came up with a program called BREATHE — or ​“Be Ready for Healthy Expressive Alternatives that Help Everyone.”

BREATHE, Taylor explained, is an after-school program designed to provide teens with positive mentorship and skill-building programs in a safe space. 

For her parting advice to other future participants, Taylor said, ​“Be prepared to be amazed.” 

Samantha Murray, a 20-year-old mother of two, was recommended to PLTI by her two sons’ daycare family advocate. 

She recalled not really knowing what to expect, but immediately saw the benefits of the program. While it was a difficult 20 weeks to get through, she said she can’t wait to use her new skills to advocate for her 1- and 2‑year-old sons, both of whom are autistic. 

Before going to PLTI, Murray recalled, ​“life was unexpected and I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go or how to get there.” 

Now she looks forward to helping her own children get the support they’ll need when they’re in the school system.

She also agreed that ​“we haven’t built a friendship, we built a family.” She recalled bonding with her classmates by going to each other’s houses to get through the program’s homework together and to babysit each other’s children. 

After graduating from PLTI ​‚Murray said, she has a better idea of what she wants to do in health care and for her community project, which is focused on beautifying the Hill with flower beds, library boxes, and speed bumps to keep children and families safe and welcomed. 

During Tuesday’s graduation, Jonasia Brown, a 23-year-old mother of three, celebrated both her PLTI accomplishment as well as her success in completing her adult education programming. 

“I really only joined because I took it as a chance to get out of classes, but I didn’t think it’d turn out like this,” she said. 

Before PLTI, she recalled being much more closed off and with a small support system in her life. The program’s facilitators and Wilcox reminded her that her voice deserves to be heard. 

As a mother of a 2‑, 3‑, and 4‑year-old, Brown said she looks forward to her new advocacy skills helping her to support her children more in school, particularly for one of her sons, who isn’t as vocal as his siblings.

Brown’s community project came out of her personal experience with postpartum depression. She calls the project ​“M.O.M. (Mothering Our Mothers),” which aims to spread awareness about postpartum depression through a Facebook page network. 

She recalled dealing with postpartum with her first child despite having her parents around to help. For her second child, she struggled with postpartum again, as well as the loss of her father when she was seven months pregnant. Then for her third, she again experienced depression. ​“It’s just not spoken about enough, and so many people are struggling.”

Tuesday’s graduation filled the Orchid Cafe at ConnCAT with former PLTI grads and leaders in the community. Attendees included Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers, who presented the graduates with city proclamations and an aldermanic citation. 

United Way Vice President of Community & Belonging Aly Fox reminded Tuesday’s group that the graduates are young parents who are working to nurture their families at home and the community. 

“Completing this program is no small feat,” Fox said. ​“This is just the beginning.” 

She said that the newly minted graduates are nurturing, empathetic, and generous. They care about community, have deep listening skills, and are tenacious and passionate.

Tuesday’s keynote speaker was state Superior Court Judge Erika Tindill, who told the mothers she is proud of their perseverance and their dedication to pursuing meaningful lives. ​“As parents, we are our children’s first and most important teachers. Our children watch what we do and how we do it,” she said. 

Wilcox told the Independent that going forward the goals are to bring PLTI back to New Haven in full force and ​“we hope to line up sustained funding to do so.”