Family Support from the Start: A Community Baby Shower
On March 18, Way to Grow and Sabathani Community Center hosted a heartwarming Community Baby Shower. The event brought together local families to celebrate new and expecting parents with essential resources, education, and support. Both organizations highlighted the importance of family support programs and access to parenting education resources, which help create strong foundations for early childhood development.
Way to Grow CEO, Coco Du, shared her reflections on the day:
“The best part of my day? Attending Way to Grow’s Community Baby Shower and seeing our team in action! I’m so grateful for our dedicated staff who provided maternal health education, ensuring every family felt supported. When we support families, we build stronger, healthier communities together.”
“The best part of my day? Attending Way to Grow’s Community Baby Shower and seeing our team in action! I’m so grateful for our dedicated staff who provided maternal health education, ensuring every family felt supported. When we support families, we build stronger, healthier communities together.”
-Coco Du, CEO of Way to Grow
Growing Strong with Way to Grow
Way to Grow believes every child deserves a safe and healthy start. Through our Growing Strong program, we offer early childhood family support with one-on-one guidance from our Family Educators. Parents receive coaching on safe sleep, prenatal and postpartum stress management, bonding and attachment, and brain development. Our goal is to help families navigate healthcare, from scheduling well-child checkups to staying up to date on immunizations. Our Community Baby Showers extend this mission, ensuring parents have access to holistic family services and community support.
During the event, our team provided maternal health education in both English and Spanish, ensuring every parent felt supported. Families received essential baby supplies, including diaper bags, sleep sacks, and much more. Attendees and staff discussed the importance of creating safe and nurturing home environments for their children.
If you or someone you know would like to become a Way to Grow family, fill out a Family Interest Form and we’ll be in touch! When you join Way to Grow, you become part of our family. We will be there every step of the way, walking alongside you as your family grows.
Sabathani Community Center: Maternal Health Matters
As our co-host, Sabathani Community Center shared the resources they offer to community members. Their Maternal Health Matters program focuses on supporting Black individuals through pregnancy and postpartum care with parent coaching and guidance. Services include home visits, perinatal yoga, and growing access to childcare and family resources. Families can learn more about these family-centered learning programs at sabathani.org/maternal-health.
Addressing Maternal Health Disparities in Minnesota
Events like the Community Baby Shower are especially important in Minnesota, where maternal health outcomes vary significantly across racial and economic lines. While Minnesota ranks better than the national average in overall maternal health, the state faces significant disparities, particularly in access to general healthcare. Black and American Indian/Alaska Native mothers in the Midwest experience some of the largest inequities in maternal health outcomes compared to White mothers (Surgo Health, Maternal Vulnerability Index, 2024). By providing free, accessible education and support, Way to Grow and Sabathani Community Center are working to address these disparities and ensure that every family—regardless of background—has the knowledge and resources needed for a healthy start.
Looking Ahead
A huge thank you to everyone who made this event possible, from our dedicated team members to the incredible families who joined us. Congratulations to all the growing families on their newest, precious arrivals! We look forward to continuing this work and strengthening parent-child relationships through community programs for parents.
For more information on Way to Grow and our home visiting programs for families, visit waytogrow.org.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Melissa Meyer
Vice President of Development
mmeyer@mplswaytogrow.org
612-874-4740
