Fifteen years ago, Kelly and David Kaiser took over leadership of a small church in Toledo’s Old South End and began serving a weekly community meal. They enjoyed getting to know their neighbors, but after a time they began to realize families in the area faced challenges that could not be overcome with food alone. 

The Kaisers wanted to do more to make a difference in a neighborhood where opportunities were lacking and many families seemed trapped in a cycle of poverty. Seeking a model for inspiration, they looked to New York City educator Geoffrey Canada and his efforts to end intergenerational poverty through the Harlem Children’s Zone.

“His philosophy was that you take a small area, a few city blocks, and you flood that area with services for both parents and children,” says Kelly Kaiser. “So you provide support for the families with parenting, and you start when the families are pregnant with their first child.”

Baby University is born

Now known as Mosaic Ministries, the nondenominational Christian church led by the Kaisers shifted its focus to education with the launch of a program called Baby University in 2010. The 10-week workshop teaches parents best practices and “empowers them to be intentional about their parenting,” says Kelly, who serves as executive director of Baby University and Mosaic Ministries.  

Initially funded by a grant from the ProMedica Advocacy Fund of the Toledo Community Foundation, the program has grown into a successful entity independent of the church. Workshops are offered three times a year. Kelly says the program usually enrolls about 25-30 parents, with a good mix of moms, dads and couples. Parents who attend receive a free pack of diapers every week and a $50 gift card upon completion of the program.

Along with learning life skills, parenting strategies and nutrition, the moms and dads who attend develop friendships with one another. Kelly observes. “We see parents building their own support networks and building the skills they need to weather the storms of raising their children and bettering the outcomes for their family,” she says. 

Baby University is complemented by a home visitation program, in which a community health worker meets with each family to evaluate their needs and connect them with community resources if they are struggling with housing, employment, food insecurity, domestic violence or other challenges.

Increasing support for families

Building on the success of Baby U, Mosaic Ministries is preparing to embark on the next stage of what Kelly describes as a “cradle to career pipeline” by opening an early childhood education center in the Old South End this spring. Funded by Mosaic Ministries and the Historic South Initiative, the Mosaic Early Learning Center is to provide free, high-quality child care to families with kids ages 0-5. 

The center is located in the Mosaic Ministries offices at 860 Orchard Street. Originally used as a school, the building is being remodeled to accommodate infants, toddlers and preschoolers. 

The focus remains on serving families concentrated in the Old South End, roughly bordered by the Anthony Wayne Trail, Maumee River, downtown and I-75. “We could serve 500 parents across the city and that would be great, but when you serve 500 parents in one small area, you’re going to change that neighborhood eventually,” Kelly explains. 

Transforming a neighborhood

Mosaic Ministries has also worked to foster collaboration between all the agencies and organizations in the Old South End. The church is part of the Broadway Corridor Coalition, a nonprofit that leads initiatives to improve safety, demolish neglected properties and revitalize the neighborhood. 

Last summer, Mosaic and other agencies in the Old South End joined together to provide free educational programming five days a week for kids. Plans are in the works to do something similar this summer, according to Kelly. 

“We know that where you live really affects your life outcomes,” she says. “We really want the Old South End to become a destination neighborhood where people can get the support they need to change their family outcomes and to get ahead and thrive.”

The next session of Baby University begins April 4. Parents interested in participating can register at https://bit.ly/babyuJan. For more information visit babyutoledo.com or contact Kelly Kaiser at [email protected]. 

In America there are over 400,000 children in foster care. 23,000 of those children will age out of care. Children who age out of foster care — those who leave foster care after turning 18 without having been adopted — face many unknowns. 50 percent will become homeless, 7 out of 10 girls will become pregnant, 1 out of 2 will develop a substance abuse dependency, 25 percent won’t graduate from high school, 50 percent will be unemployed, and 60 percent of boys will be convicted of a crime.

The lack of support and guidance is often the problem for many of these youths, but fortunately for the Toledo area, there is an organization helping these young adults avoid becoming a statistic: The Ohana Project. 

Dependence to independence 

The Ohana Project is an amazing organization run by Ashley and Mark Mills, who say it “works with aging youth to transition from dependence to independence.” The couple focuses on educating the youth involved in their program on life skills such as building credit, navigating finances and maintaining employment. 

When a youth ages out of foster care, the government provides them with some benefits and support, such as help with rent, food and education. However, even with those benefits, the Mills realized something more was missing. “We felt it was time to give these young adults guidance to navigate [adulthood], additional assistance where needed, advice, hands-on skills, and a forever family they may always call upon,” says Ashley. 

The additional assistance and guidance comes directly from The Ohana Project, as well as the community partners the organization works with. Partners in the community have helped provide the youths with jobs and acted as mentors for the young adults. Helping the young adults find employment is often the first step Ashley and Mark take. Then, after the youth obtains a job, the couple works to help them find transportation.

At first the transportation often comes directly from Ashley and Mark, who have been known to pick up and drive the youths to work each day, but with the help of the community, grants, and discounts with car dealerships such as Steve Taylor, the young adults are often able to afford a downpayment on their first car while also keeping some money in their savings account. 

A forever family

Along with the assistance in housing, employment, and transportation, Ashley and Mark also become family to these young adults. In a phone interview, Mark explained that a lot of these youths are very behind where other young adults their age would be. While the foster care system does offer a voluntary program called Bridges, which offers young adults

monthly meetings with representatives providing guidance, those once-a-month meetings are often not enough. So The Ohana Project provides daily guidance. Ashley and Mark take on somewhat of a parental role for these young adults as they lead them through the tribulations of early adulthood. 

And it is those parent-child interactions that really seem to be so rewarding, not just for the youth, but for Ashley and Mark as well. Mark shared a story of one of the youths in The Ohana Project who was in a car accident recently.

Most teens would call their parents right away because getting in a car accident is scary, and they don’t always know what to do at that age. Mark said it was late at night and he was outside talking with Ashley. He didn’t hear his phone, and his daughter spotted it ringing and brought it outside to him. It was one of his young adults from The Ohana Project. Mark went to go pick him up, and, after getting him home and taking care of the immediate needs after the accident, Mark was looking through some of his missed text

messages. He had gotten many messages from the young man right after the accident, and one of those messages included the phrase “I need you.” 

Mark explained, “You become the one they depend on in those situations.” Fortunately for the young adults in The Ohana Project, they have some wonderful people they can rely on. From late night phone calls to early morning pick-ups, The Ohana Project provides the help and care these young adults need. And that help and care doesn’t stop at any certain age. “Our time with them is never-ending,” added Ashley. 

Anyone interested in becoming involved with The Ohana Project can learn more by visiting theohanaproject.org or by emailing [email protected].