Maternity Care Coalition Annual Report

inspiring change

2012

Cha

nge

offe

rs th

e ch

ance

to e

xplo

re u

ncha

rted

terr

itorie

s. R

ebra

ndin

gcr

eate

s gr

eate

r po

ssib

ilitie

s fo

r us

to w

ork

tow

ards

all

mot

hers

and

ch

ildre

n ha

ving

a h

ealth

y lif

esty

le. W

ith a

logo

that

cap

ture

s ou

r m

issi

on, a

tagl

ine

that

look

s to

war

d th

e fu

ture

, and

a w

ebsi

te th

at

info

rms

we

are

read

y to

ser

ve m

ore

fam

ilies

in a

n im

pro

ved

way

. Gaynell Gillespie, a MOMobile

advocate, Dr. Charmaine Smith

Wright, of the University of Penn-

sylvania School of Medicine, and

Amal Bass of Women’s Law Proj-

ect shared personal testimonies

during a press conference held by

U.S. Senator Robert Casey Jr. in

which he introduced the Pregnant

Workers Fairness Act, a piece of

legislation designed to protect

pregnant women in the workplace.

During our Celebrating Mothers

kick-off event, we unveiled our

new branding. Our logo shines

brightly in the background as

University of the Arts student

volunteers welcome guests.

Sister Marie Gervasi of our South

Philadelphia Early Head Start site

shares her passion for our work

and commitment to our clients

during a staff meeting where she

was recognized for her 15 years

of service to MCC.

possibilities

For 32 years, MCC has served families in the communitiesthey live. Founded in response to the area’s high infant mortality rates, our services have expanded. Prompted by

Why did we rebrand?

Reb

rand

ing

& W

ebsi

te

by holding steadfast to our belief that families are best helped when they are served in the communities in which they live. Our mission hasn’t changed, but our methods have grown. This year we embarked on a journey of rebranding. We identified the characteristics that distinguished us from other organizations and rebranded ourselves in a way that is reflective of our mission and embraces our future.

Working together, our staff and Board of Directors emphasized priorities for the organization. We remain committed to supporting evidence-based early care and education services for childbearing families; to raising public awareness of the key issues in maternal and child health; and to having a strong and differentiated brand in the marketplace.

Our new branding enables us to more adequately meet the needs of our clients, researchers, policymakers, and supporters by communicating effectively what makes us unique. We know that our ability to communicate efficiently remains central to our success in service delivery to families, comprehensive research, effective advocacy, donor development, and volunteer support.

We reworked our website to more effectively meet the needs of our clients, particularly our Early Head Start parents; to serve as an entry-point for potential clients, volunteers, interns, employees, and donors; to more accurately reflect the organization and its work; and to be easy to navigate.

We’re more than just MOMobile. Our previous website was found using the URL www.MOMobile.org. Our new web address shows the full range of our work. The new website has a wealth of information related to maternal and child health, early care, and early education. If you haven’t visited us in a while, we can be found at: maternitycarecoalition.org

Our new website also features two blogs. The MCC news blog provides a digital record of the news coverage we receive for our events and activities. This year, we were featured in over 30 news outlets including 6ABC, WHYY, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Our public policy blog provides in-depth examination of complex laws and policies affecting maternal and child health and early childhood education.

Since 1980, we’ve been improving maternal and child health and wellbeing

our recent strategic planning we began the rebranding journey. Our goal was to honor our past and embrace our future. We redesigned our look to better represent who we are

today. Throughout this report we will share with you how we chose a new logo, changed our tagline, decided on new colors, and selected fonts to best communicate our message.

To h

elp

mom

s ca

re fo

r th

eir

bab

ies,

our

ser

vice

s of

fer

nurt

urin

gsu

pp

ort

to m

oms.

Our

pro

gram

s vi

sit

fam

ilies

in t

heir

hom

es,

pro

vid

e a

safe

pla

ce fo

r b

aby

to s

leep

, and

ed

ucat

e on

man

ag-

ing

life

with

a n

ew b

aby.

We

emp

ower

mom

s to

mak

e he

alth

y ch

oice

s fo

r th

emse

lves

and

the

ir fa

mili

es.

Awilda Echevarria, an advocate

from our Norristown Early Head

Start site, expands the imagination

of a client’s son during a home visit

by interacting with him and playing

a jungle game.

Hillary Robertson-Forrest, a Cribs

for Kids Advocate, demonstrates

to a new mother how to properly

assemble a portable crib during

one of our Safe Sleep workshops.

Carolyn Smith nurtures an Early

Head Start class while she reads

a story to them during a recent visit.

nurturing

A tagline is like an organization’s slogan and a key part of any brand. It communicates brand promise and offers accountability to the organization. Successful rebranding requires

Serv

ices

For

Fam

ilies

What is a tagline?“Strengthening families...”

we served a growing number of Latina and Asian families at our MOMobile sites. Now in its 24th year of supporting pregnant women, moms, and babies, MOMobile is affiliated with Healthy Families America. HFA is a federally recognized evidence-based home visiting and intervention program. With funding from the Children’s Trust Fund, the Delaware County MOMobile became our first site to implement the HFA model.

Our clients are on the web and we are too. Our Cribs for Kids program launched an online application form that can be sub-mitted using a computer, tablet, or smart phone. So far over 150 applications have been submitted through our website. Parents who want to educate their child’s caregiver on safe sleep practices can visit our website and print a safe sleep checklist.

To ensure that pregnant women and new parents have the support and resources they need we made 3,297 home visits to families in Delaware and Montgomery Counties, Philadelphia, and at the Riverside Correctional Facility. Using the “Partners for Healthy Babies” curriculum, we offer a nationally recognized approach to parenting education.

Encouragement from another parent can go a long way. We host monthly Parent Outreach Meetings at each of our MOMobile sites. These two-hour sessions feature various topics including nutrition, budgeting, and safe sleep. Attendees also have the op-portunity to participate in raffles and giveaways of baby supplies.

Our work extends beyond our clients. We want everyone to haveresources to make healthy choices for themselves and their families. Our community-based education program uses the “Nurturing Parents” curriculum in drug rehabilitation centers and offers two-hour sessions on topics such as how to build self-esteem in a child, provide proper discipline, and develop problem-solving skills.

We strive to continually improve child health in Philadelphia. We provided application assistance to over 1,000 children needing access to Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program. More than half were from immigrant families who had no previous connection to MCC or other social services.

With clients representing the rich diversity of Southeastern PA, in 2012

knowing what to keep. During our rebranding process we knew our tagline should reflect our evolution and stay true to our mission. At our core we work to strengthen families

and we did not want to lose that. We chose to keep the first part of our tagline the same to honor our past suc-cesses and stay true to our mission.

Doc

tors

reco

mm

end

wom

en e

xclu

sive

ly b

reas

tfee

d th

eir

bab

ies

for

the

first

six

mo

nth

s. A

nd

yet

, m

any

wo

men

ret

urn

to

wo

rk lo

ng

bef

ore

th

en.

Hav

ing

po

licym

aker

s, e

mp

loye

rs,

and

bu

sin

esse

s em

bra

ce n

urs

ing

wo

men

in a

wel

com

ing

envi

ron

men

t m

oti

vate

s o

ur

pu

blic

po

licy

wo

rk.

A mother bonds with her baby

using a tender touch during a home

visit from her MCC Advocate.

Dr. Donald Schwarz, Philadelphia

Health Commissioner, congratu-

lates Janine Wright of Einstein

Healthcare Network during a

ceremony where we honored 12

Breastfeeding Friendly Employers.

We made great strides in breast-

feeding this year. Mothers from all

over sent photos to MCC when we

held a Breastfeeding Philadelphia

Facebook Photo Campaign.

embrace

When families become stronger, communities become stronger. As we studied branding we understood that our messaging is more than the direct support we provide. Our new tagline

Publ

icPo

licy

How did our tagline change?“Inspiring change…”

and 75% of women plan to breastfeed. Sadly, one-third of them will not meet their goals because they lack support.

But employers can help. This year we certified 12 Breastfeeding Friendly Workplaces. These employers gave critical assistance to nursing employees by establishing lactation rooms, providing information about breastfeeding, and offering low cost breast-feeding supplies. Hospitals also need to support new mothers in breastfeeding. In November, we hosted a Breastfeeding Summit with the Philadelphia Health Department. All six birthing hospitals in the city attended. They learned how to better support nursing mothers and work towards becoming baby-friendly hospitals. Baby-friendly hospitals have written breastfeeding polices that are regularly communicated to staff, give only breast milk to babies, and practice “rooming-in” which encourages mother and baby to be together 24 hours a day while in the hospital.

The public can support breastfeeding families too. To highlight the diversity in breastfeeding families, we invited families to submit their own breastfeeding photos on our Facebook Page.

These pictures demonstrate that breastfeeding crosses all cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds. With the 72 photos received we created a video series supporting our Breastfeeding Friendly Employer campaign.

We work to inform others about the barriers to care many pregnant women in Pennsylvania face. Through our Insuring Motherhood Campaign and by advocating for the Affordable Care Act, we engaged over 2,000 people through social media. Supporters signed our petitions, joined our rallies, and wrote to state and national legislatures in support of health benefits for all women.

We are champions of change. In March, we were honored with the White House Champion of Change Award. Visit the Public Policy section of our website to learn more about this great honor.

Women in Norristown faced barriers to prenatal care. The average wait for an initial prenatal visit was 12 weeks in 2011 even though the first few weeks of pregnancy are most critical. By collabo-rating with health providers and policymakers we were able to reduce that time by eight weeks.

We believe that baby’s first food should be their mother’s milk,

needed to show how we advocate on behalf of all families. Part of our success comes in empowering others to create change for themselves and their community. The second part

of our new tagline communicates the goal of empowering our clients, advocates, and supporters to make positive changes for themselves and their communities.

Chi

ldho

od p

rovi

des

a w

ond

erfu

l op

por

tuni

ty to

imag

ine

all s

orts

of

bril

liant

thin

gs. A

chi

ld’s

imag

inat

ion

spar

ks c

reat

ivity

. In

nova

tive

lear

ning

tec

hniq

ues,

str

ong

com

mun

ity re

latio

ns, a

nd

adva

nced

sta

ff tr

aini

ngs

enab

le o

ur E

arly

Hea

d S

tart

(EH

S) s

ites

to c

ultiv

ate

that

cre

ativ

ity a

nd u

niq

uene

ss in

eac

h ch

ild.

Board Member, Charmaine Smith

Wright helps develop her daugh-

ter’s creativity at a craft table

during our Children’s Brunch

in March.

With the help of federal expansion

funds, we were able to construct

a brand new tot lot for South

Philadelphia families and EHS

children.

Nancy Dennin and her children

stand with Executive Director,

JoAnne Fischer, as we dedicate

the Norristown EHS Family Activity

Room in memory of her mother

Susan Beneman.

creativity

An organization’s logo works best when it reflects the mission. We considered different options, but realized only one truly embraces our vision. The archetype of the mother

What logo reflects MCC?

Ear

ly

Hea

d St

art

and we work hard to maintain it. Our South Philadelphia site was recognized by the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children and Pennsylvania’s Keystone Star Program for the high standards in which we operate, the level of training our staff receives, and the quality care provided to children. Everyone deserves the chance to play outside. In April, we opened a new tot lot in South Philadelphia. This 2,200 sq. ft. playground features brand new swing sets, slides, and a garden.

We are growing and serving more. With federal expansion funds,our Norristown site moved from 4,600 to 9,400 sq. ft. We increased our staff to double the number of families we serve to 120. We commemorated the Family Activity Room in honor of our friend and supporter Susan Beneman. Many thanks to her family for sharing an emotional tribute.

Building relationships with individuals in communities we serve ensures the success of our programs and clients. In Pottstown, we became a community partner with Pottstown Early Access to Kindergarten. This partnership supports a common goal for

improving early education by providing parents and caregivers with the necessary tools to prepare children for lifelong learning.

Dads play an important role in the health of their children. Our EHS Male Involvement Initiative supports fathers through parenting education, financial literacy, and child development. We also provide group experiences through workshops, special events, and trips.

Learning isn’t just for children. Our staff and parents attended trainings and national conferences. We learned how to incor-porate technology, physical activity, and toys into educational opportunities for kids. As an EHS provider, we have a large responsibility. For every federal dollar we receive, we must raise 25 cents. This match can be cash donations, donated services, or supplies. We are thankful for our corporate sponsors and vendors who donate their time, efforts, and supplies to help us reach our goal including Mont-gomery Early Learning Center and Morgan, Lewis, Bockius, LLP.

As the largest EHS provider in Pennsylvania, we strive for excellence

and baby reflects who we are. We modernized the image with a design that makes it appear as though mom and baby are being lifted. With this image, anyone can be reflected.

The logo can suggest father and child, grandparent and child, or MCC Advocate and child.

Why

are

so

me

wo

men

suc

cess

ful i

n m

anag

ing

po

stp

artu

m

wei

ght

whe

n o

ther

s st

rug

gle

? W

hy d

oes

it t

ake

so lo

ng f

or

a w

om

an s

uffe

ring

fro

m d

epre

ssio

n to

get

hel

p?

Ho

w c

an

rese

arch

ers

at d

iffer

ent

inst

itutio

ns w

ork

to

get

her?

C

urio

sity

pro

mp

ted

us

to r

esea

rch

thes

e is

sues

.

A little girl at our South Philadel-

phia Early Head Start site gazes

curiously into the camera as we

capture part of her day.

A client’s child does some explor-

ing as she inspects the program

during our Norristown open house.

Glamarys Acevedo, our Research

Assistant, demonstrates the proper

way to put on a baby carrier

during a Postpartum Weight

Management workshop.

curiosity

Three swooshes create the logo. We chose three to reflect our programs: research, public policy, and services for families. Our comprehensive approach distinguishes MCC because we

Res

earc

h &

Eva

luat

ion

What else can the logo communicate?

and this year we launched a Research Consortium with over 25 members from area universities and hospitals. Researchers from interdisciplinary fields work together to discover ways to improve health outcomes and help individuals overcome chal-lenges. In our inaugural year we’ve built the team, created new cross-institutional collaborations, launched new study opportu-nities, and identified potential funding.

We concluded our National Institute of Mental Health grant this year and found that when our Research Assistant accompanied clients to mental health visits, over 83% attended. Depression Research and Treatment, an online medical journal, published findings from our pilot study. The primary aim of the study, to increase MCC’s research infrastructure, was a great success. We are now in a position to collaborate as equal partners on research studies with universities in the area.

The Aetna Foundation awarded us a national grant to conduct our first randomized controlled study looking at postpartum weight management. Using an innovative technique and motivational text messaging, we help moms lose weight and provide a healthy lifestyle for their babies.

An example of a text we wrote using Motivational Interviewing techniques, is used when a woman reports that she cannot exercise because of safety concerns: “Your neighborhood may not encourage you to exercise, but many new moms use the steps in their home or apartment to workout at home. Join us!” By anticipating some of the replies of the study participants, we are able to quickly adjust the individualized text messages we send.

We remain committed to studying the impact of our work. Using our comprehensive database management system, Efforts to Outcomes, we are able to track clients’ progress in meeting their goals as well as the overall impact of our programs. We have found that clients who receive our services while pregnant are more likely to breastfeed and put their children to sleep safely than those who only receive services after birth. Our program evaluation demonstrates the strong impact our services are having on client outcomes.

Tackling issues surrounding maternal and child health requires a team approach,

work to expand research in maternal and child health, focus on the big policy issues to create lasting change, and provide services directly to families in the community. Originally, the

logo showed mother and baby sleeping. To illustrate how we strengthen, empower, and inspire we felt strongly that the eyes needed to be open.

Bei

ng v

iab

le, s

usta

inab

le, a

nd a

ble

to

effe

ctiv

ely

serv

e th

e co

m-

mun

ity re

qui

res

team

wor

k. W

e al

l com

e to

geth

er to

exe

cute

our

co

mm

unity

eve

nts,

ap

ply

for

gran

ts, s

ecur

e sp

onso

rshi

ps

and

m

eet o

ur fi

nanc

ial g

oals

.

Two of our South Philadelphia

Early Head Start children under-

stand that through teamwork they

can make beautiful music.

Gently used baby items that are

donated throughout the year are

stored at our Baby Closet. Each

month, MCC advocates go and

pick up essential items for our

clients.

Part of what makes Celebrating

Mothers so successful is having

friends of MCC send personalized

letters to their family, friends, and

colleagues. For each donation

received, we send a personalized

thank you to a special woman in

their lives.

teamwork F

und

Dev

elop

men

t

Color can signal an action, influence mood, or evoke a psychological reaction. What colors to use and how to use them is a key part of branding. After considering many

What is the purpose of color?

wellbeing. With help from a range of local and regional funders including William Penn and Philadelphia Foundation we continued our research and public policy programs, implemented our brand-ing, and supported our infrastructure. With funding from national foundations including W.K. Kellogg, van Amerigen and Mattel, we provided breastfeeding services, studied postpartum depression, and supported Early Head Start. Our annual campaign, Celebrating Mothers grows each year. At our kick-off event we “Escaped to Hawaii” with Nydia Han of 6ABC and nearly 500 MCC supporters. Guests enjoyed island food including fruit, sushi, and other tastings donated by local vendors. The work of Dr. Nathalie Akin Bartle of Drexel School of Public Health and Dr. Jack Ludmir of Pennsylvania Hospital exemplify the mission of MCC, and they were honored with our “Spirit of Motherhood” Award.

Melissa Sayer, campaign co-chair, said “Drs. Bartle and Ludmir gave impassioned speeches that commanded attention and brought the purpose of MCC’s mission to the forefront. They are great role models and champions of maternal and child

health creating a beautiful ripple effect in the community. We could not have chosen better.” Our youngest supporters also joined us in Hawaii at a children’s brunch where they created sand art and learned to hula dance with the help of Aloha Style, a Polynesian dance group. Raising over $200,000, the cam-paign had its most successful year yet.

We celebrate dads too. Our Celebrating Fathers Golf Classic was held at Radnor Valley Country Club and we honored three men with our “Driving Fatherhood” Award. Joel Austin, Founder and Executive Director of Daddy University, Inc., Marc Cornelius Jackson, Early Head Start Male Involvement member, and Mar-tin L. Eggleston, Director of the Fatherhood Initiative Program at CADCOM promote and embody fatherhood in their lives andthe lives of others.

Throughout the year, we also receive donations of formula, baby equipment, and clothing. These essential items help our clients make ends meet. We collect and store items in the Baby Closet at Ardmore Presbyterian Church. Many thanks to the church for their generosity and all who have contributed.

Foundations help support our goal to improve maternal and child health and

colors schemes we chose two distinctive colors for our logo and then mixed them together to create the third. Once the primary palate was chosen, secondary colors were created to

complement the logo. All of the colors selected are bright, cheerful, and vibrant representing the energy and diversity of everyone involved in our work.

Foun

dat

ions

, gra

nts,

cor

por

ate

spon

sors

hip

s an

d in

div

idua

l d

onat

ions

ena

ble

us

to e

mp

ower

clie

nt fa

mili

es a

nd re

aliz

e ou

r m

issi

on. E

very

gift

from

the

$50

,000

gra

nt to

the

$25

don

atio

n p

lays

a v

ital r

ole

in fo

rmin

g an

d s

usta

inin

g us

. The

gift

s yo

u sh

are

with

us

mak

e it

pos

sib

le fo

r us

to s

hare

with

oth

ers.

Encouraging teamwork starts early

at MCC as two young infants inter-

act at our Norristown Early Head

Start site.

Diane Croce is an avid supporter of

MCC. Once again she co-chaired

the campaign and hosted a table

for eight friends.

There are a variety of ways corpor-

ations can contribute to MCC.

Many thanks to Volpe and Koenig,

LLP who sponsored the snack sta-

tion at our Celebrating Fathers Golf

Event. We also thank Bob Schenk

and Andy McPhee of FA Davis who

co-chaired the event.

share

According to Microsoft’s website, over 500 different fonts exist for Word. In branding, fonts work with the logo and the colors in communicating the brand. We chose

Tha

nks

To

You

Does the font really matter?

we could not provide the support our clients need. Long term donors contribute to the success of any nonprofit organization. We thank the many individuals who have given to MCC and are especially grateful to our long term and consistent donors.

Kirstin Engelman has been an avid supporter of MCC. In 2009 she had the vision to create a family friendly children’s event held the morning of our Celebrating Mothers kick-off. With her devo-tion and gifts of time, resources, and planning the event has grown every year. Since 1993, Drs. Augie Hermann and Julio Kuperman have consistently remembered MCC with a commitment extending beyond the dollar. They have contributed their time by support-ing our staff, shared their networks by connecting us to their friends and colleagues, and celebrated the joyous births in their lives with a donation to MCC.

Kirstin, her husband Jeff, Augie and Julio belong to our Carnation Club. This unique group of individuals and families contributes at a leadership level of $1,000 or more annually. With 70 members

we’re looking to grow. If you’re a long term supporter of MCC, we hope that you will consider joining this committed group. We salute and thank them, as well as all our long term donors, for their continued support.

We also thank our new donors. Keith Lyons joined our list of donors in January. He supports MCC because he believes in early childhood education. Keith began donating after listen-ing to a radio program about the Harlem Children’s Zone. The program sparked his desire to support early childhood education. After researching organizations in the Philadelphia region Keith chose MCC.

To see a full list of donors, including those who have given for 15 or more years, please visit our website:maternitycarecoalition.org.

Without donors who selflessly share their time, resources, and connections,

two different font styles to help tell the evolving story of MCC. Our name, Maternity Care Coalition, appears in Myriad Pro, a modern serif font. This font reflects how we

embrace the future. To honor our past, we chose a classic sans serif font for the tagline. “Strengthening families, inspiring change” appears in Goudy Old Style.

Any

effe

ctiv

e or

gani

zatio

n b

rings

the

pie

ces

toge

ther

to fo

rm th

e la

rger

pic

ture

. A

t M

CC

our

sou

nd fi

nanc

ial m

anag

emen

t, st

rong

in

tern

al c

ontr

ols,

and

sta

ble

tec

hnol

ogy

infr

astr

uctu

re c

omb

ined

w

ith d

onor

sup

por

t an

d e

ffect

ive

pro

gram

min

g co

me

toge

ther

to

form

the

MC

C c

olla

ge.

collageB

ig

Pict

ure

Different kids from various back-

grounds shape our Early Head

Start sites. Each child brings to

us their unique perspective and it

helps contribute to the success

of MCC.

Haley Singer, a Development

Associate, enters our Hamilton

Street Offices using an electronic

fob that was installed to increase

safety in the office.

Linda Widdop from NPower

shares with our board recom-

mendations for how information

technology helps strengthen the

way we deliver our services.

Our longest running program, MOMobile, started in 1989 and was chosen as the address to find us on the web and to email our staff. As part of the rebranding process we

What’s in a name?

Statement of Financial Position as of 6/30/2012

2012 Expenses $7,574,325

24% MOMobile $1,791,705

51% Early Head Start $3,911,909

6% Cribs for Kids $419,153

6% Other Programs** $487,298

10% Management & General $728,645

3% Fundraising $235,615

**Policy & Research

2012 Income by Source $7,678,743

11% Foundations $837,388

2% United Way $135,933

75% Grants & Contracts $5,832,909

4% Individuals $284,156

3% Donated Services $213,209

5% Other* $375,148

*Corporate, Research, Healthcare & Religious Orgs.

ASSETS

Cash $363,315

Land and Equipment 563,500

Receivables 784,339

Prepaid Expenses / Deposits 115,986

Total Assets $1,827,140

LIABILITIES

Accounts Payable $260,590

Long-term Debt 6,214

Total Current Liabilities $266,804

Noncurrent Liabilities $11,419

Total Liabilities $278,223

NET ASSETS*

Unrestricted $1,081,899

Temporarily Restricted 467,018

Total Net Assets $1,548,917

Total Liabilities and Net Assets $1,827,140

* Fiscal year is July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2012

understood we needed to communicate more fully how our work extends beyond MOMobile, given our growth in Early Head Start. Now to convey the full range of work, find

us at maternitycarecoalition.org. MOMobile is still there along with public policy, research, Early Head Start, Cribs for Kids and Community Based Education.

Wat

chin

g a

fam

ily a

chie

ve t

heir

goal

s in

spire

s M

CC

. Our

ac

com

plis

hmen

ts th

is y

ear

incl

ude

our

new

bra

ndin

g, s

ervi

ces

for

fam

ilies

, pub

lic p

olic

y w

ork,

and

rese

arch

. With

a fr

esh

bra

nd a

nd a

new

web

site

we

are

read

y to

ser

ve m

ore

fam

ilies

. Executive Director JoAnne Fischer

chats with MCC Board President,

Regine Metellus at our Celebrating

Mothers event where our new

branding was introduced.

A young supporter of MCC shows

off his finished product at a craft

table during our annual Children’s

Brunch.

We celebrated ‘out with the old,

and in with the new’ during our

staff appreciation day where we

recognized Aleece Beattie for

completing her Infant & Toddler

Child Development Associate

Certification.

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Rebranding doesn’t end with the decisions on logo, tagline,colors, and fonts. All these changes must be integrated into our various brand touch points. We started with our

What’s next?

Now that we have our new brand and website, we sat down with our Board President Regine Metellus (RM) and Executive Director JoAnne Fischer (JAF) to find what they learned during the process and it what it means for our clients.

What did you learn during the rebranding process?

RM: We now have a better understanding of who our client is.We’ve always focused on the mother and young child, but as we have grown and evolved, we now realize that we have to support other caregivers such as fathers and grandparents. The new look is also fresh and the website more action-oriented.

JAF: Images are stronger than words. Some of our board, staff and supporters loved the suggestion of mother and baby because it was at the heart of our work. Others preferred a more abstract image because it left open what forms a family and our work. In the end, we realized the archetype of mother and child was memorable, an abstract design was not. I also learned a brand is a promise. What distinguishes MCC is our clear focus on pregnant women, mothers and children 0-3 years of age and our comprehensive and intertwined approach encompassing service for families, research and public policy. If we had to describe MCC at its core, our brand essence is about “empowering people.”

How does the new website better describe the work of MCC?

RM: Using Maternity Care Coalition as the website address elimi-inates the confusion around MOMobile being a program of MCC vs. a separate entity on its own. It also helps to bring focus around other MCC programs including Early Head Start and the work of our Public Policy and Research teams.

JAF: Our website is no longer a brochure describing our services.It offers parents, volunteers, researchers, and policymakers a way to engage with MCC. Our blogs highlight current issues affecting families and public policy and we provide timely consumer information and links to important resources for families.

How does the rebranding reflect the future of MCC?

RM: The new look is fresh and more action-oriented. It speaks tothe concept of empowerment that is at the very core of MCC.The redesigned user interface provides visitors with easy access to information and the steps to move forward.

JAF: It lets the community know that we are contemporary and committed. In new and enduring ways, we will continue to“strengthen families and inspire change.”

What did we learn?

letterhead and business cards, and continued with this annual report. We’ve refined the language we use to communicate all of our programs. In the coming months we will update

our vehicle design, create new banners and redesign our client materials. Our website will be continually updated to be dynamic, current and robust.

MCC Board Members

MCC envisions a future in which all families receive solid support throughout the critical period of pregnancy through age three in a manner that enables lifelong health and wellbeing.

Regine Metellus, (President)Chief Financial Offi cer & VP of OperationsUrban League of Philadelphia, Inc.

Laura Offutt, (Vice President)Principal | PhoREST Consulting

Leanne C. Wagner (Vice President)Retired | Former VP / Wyeth

Janet L. Bly (Secretary)President | Signature Gardens, LLC

Saul Epstein, (Treasurer)CEO | Global Harness Systems

Darlyne BaileyDean & Professor | Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research

Caroline CampbellProgram ManagerWomen’s Wellness DepartmentCongreso De Latinos Unidos Inc.

Rosemarie HaltInstructor | ECELS / PA Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics

Stacey HelmersCommunity Volunteer

Michele Hunn Community Volunteer

Mu’min Islam Associate Counsel | MFI Law Group

Keisha JordanDirector of Admissions | Pre K-8 GirlsSpringside Chestnut Hill Academy

Elliot LevinePartner | Sales PracticeCANDOR Consulting

Jane MathisenOb/Gyn & Psychiatrist

Gail Curtis Morse Vice President | BNY Mellon

Evelyn Sample-Oates Deputy Chief Communications Offi cerSchool District of Philadelphia

Mona SarfatyAssociate Professor Thomas Jefferson University

Ashley Scott (Board Fellow)HR Planning and Analytics ManagerLincoln Financial Group

Bonnie ShumanRetired | Corporate Lawyer

Karen SpiroOwner | EVENTures, Inc.

Felice G. WienerCommunity Volunteer

Charmaine Smith WrightAssistant Professor of Medicine Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Victoria L. ZellersAttorney | Cozen O’Connor

Creative Services: Th!nk-Scott Strategy + Design | think-scott.com & imagemark.net Photo Credit: Jay Gorodetzer, Michelle Corbman, Caitlin Sherman

215.972.07002000 Hamilton Street / Suite 205Philadelphia, PA 19130maternitycarecoalition.org