Our Year in Review

At Nurture the Next, our values are incredibly important to us. They’re not just words. They guide how we operate in the communities we serve, and they represent the future we’re determined to build.

Earlier this month, we released our Annual Report for the past fiscal year, representing our work from July 2020 through June 2021. As we began reviewing our work during that time frame, we were struck by the immense amount of change our organization went through. Despite all the changes, we never strayed from our mission because of our values and our commitment to them.

Here are some brief highlights from our Annual Report. You can view our full report by clicking on the image above.

 Be Open. Remain curious.

Facing a historic pandemic that upended our ability to meet families in-person, the Nurture the Next team kept an open mind and an open heart and established new and creative ways to conduct home visits.

We also underwent an expansion that laid the groundwork for us to serve 158% more families this year.

Lean into it.

We also made strategic investments in our parent mentorship program, while never losing sight of our commitment to the families we serve with our home visiting services.  while also providing vital resources to expecting parents and growing families.

We also provided vital resources to expecting parents and growing families, including sending out 2,326 child development activity kits.

Do the right thing.

We are working with the State and domestic violence shelters to improve communication sharing and prioritize children’s safety. Currently, these two organizations have different ways of keeping children safe and away from violence. We want to be certain that these efforts don’t lead to unintended consequences that negatively impact children and their development.

We also answered 12,620 calls on our statewide domestic violence helpline.

Embrace, share, and celebrate.

We know that it is so important to share our struggles and celebrate our successes. We hosted Nesting with Nurture the Next events to share the tools, resources, and support we offer free of charge with new and expecting parents.

We also recognized our first year as Nurture the Next with a first birthday party. Technically, we had three parties, one at each of our main offices ensuring we properly celebrated our team and incredible community partners. 

Have each other’s back.

Supporting parents from the beginning of their parenting journey is one of the best ways to nurture healthy childhoods. We piloted Nurture®TN, a text-based mentorship program that connects new moms with experienced ones. After proving the need for more easily accessible parenting support, we made this program permanent starting this year.

Reach High. Do Better.

Despite all we achieved this year, we know that there are always more families to reach. Because the more families we can reach, the more children in Tennessee are likely grow up in safe, stable, and nurturing families and communities.

To achieve this vision, we are constantly digging deep, reaching high, and trying to do better.

No matter the obstacles we face, our values will continue to light the way towards the future of promise and prosperity for all children and families.