Supporting Parents and Building Community

PEPS offers programs that support parents, connect families, and build community. We know from research that forming social connections is critical to family wellness and children's mental health and development. Strong support strengthens parental resilience for the next milestone, challenge, or change, helps to create the bond between parents and their children.

The data on this page reflects survey results from parents who participated in our Newborn, Second Time Around, and Baby Peppers programs. Learn more about the other programs we offer to support parents in different parenting stages.

81% of parents surveyed in 2022 agree that PEPS helped them feel more confident in their ability to parent well. 

To read more about the impact of PEPS, check out our 2023 In-Progress Report and our 2022 Annual Report.

We connected 3,505 parents in 2022.	We reached new communities through partnerships and collaboration.	We conducted anti-bias reviews of our curriculum to screen for ableism, racial bias, and gendered language.

Outcomes

All PEPS programs are rooted in the research-informed Strengthening Families™ framework. This framework establishes five protective factors, or forms of support, as critical to family wellbeing because they build confidence in new parents, which in turn supports parent-child attachment and parental resilience:

• Social Support
• Emotional Support
• Parental Support
• Informational Support
• Child Development Support

One of the ways PEPS measures impact is by asking parents about their levels of support in our pre-and post-group surveys. Our survey results consistently show that PEPS supports parents in feeling less isolated, more connected to fellow new parents, and more confident and competent about their parenting skills. Parents also report that PEPS helped them connect to local resources and learn about child development milestones.

For more details, view the PEPS 2022 Outcomes Summary.

Increased Support:

Lasting Impact:

• 58% of parents learned about local resources new to them through PEPS.
• 81% experienced increased confidence by participating in a PEPS Group.
• 75% of participants have been or plan to continue meeting with their PEPS Group.

What Participants Say about PEPS

“Without PEPS, I would have been overwhelmed with all the information at once. It was also great to have the support system of other moms who had babies at the same stage as mine. The first months of being a mom were not what I had expected, so it was really helpful to have that support.”

“My PEPS group was a place I could be honest about everything from difficulty adjusting to parenthood to issues about going back to work. I found great support from people who were going through similar things at the same time.”

"We were all willing to be vulnerable from the very beginning and know it was a safe space to share feelings."

Your Investment Makes an Impact

PEPS makes an impact for over 3,500 parents each year. Your gift to PEPS is an investment in healthy families in our community and helps us train more leaders, continually develop our curriculum and provide financial assistance for parents who cannot afford the program fee. Learn more about making a donation or sponsoring PEPS.