New Sun Rising, in partnership with One Northside, gives Northside residents the opportunity to make a significant impact in their community through the One Northside Mini-Grant program. The program ignites resident-led community projects with up to $1,000 grants and the support of their Mini-Grant Street Team.
Syreeta Gordon received a Mini-Grant and was able to see her ideas come to life. With the grant funds, Syreeta started Unshakeable Motherhood, a program centered on workshops for Northside mothers. Recently, we got a chance to learn more about Unshakeable Motherhood and Syreeta’s vision:
How did you hear about the One Northside Mini-Grant program?
I heard about the Mini-Grant program from one of my classmates in Power to Prosper program at the University of Pittsburgh. The program is designed to target small business owners interested in managing their long-term growth. My classmate mentioned how the Mini-Grant program helped her to impact the community.
What is your vision?
My vision is to serve mothers in their birth experience, while creating steps to have a well-supported birth, postpartum, and beyond. I hope to help mothers formulate a plan to have clarity about their identity, create a pathway for maternity leave, build confidence to live and serve family, while maintaining identity, and to help them navigate postpartum.
African American women in the United States experience poor maternal health outcomes, including higher rates of death related to pregnancy and childbirth. I am raising funds for moms of color to become birth doulas. My hope is to help women of color experience a well-supported birth.
Tell me a bit about the workshops.
The workshops are designed to guide, inform, and encourage mothers to better prepare for their motherhood journey. Inspired by the Unshakeable Motherhood movement, the themes of workshops range from Debunking Myths on Breastfeeding, What are Doula Services, to Developing Postpartum Maternity Streams of Income.
How did your journey with childbirth prepare you for the workshops?
My two childbirth experiences were very different. The first came in a wave of being a young, single, and inexperienced mother. The second came as mature, married, and more experienced woman. I believe going through both of these experiences has helped me to create and write workshops for mothers.
What is your biggest piece of advice for someone who is a mother and working full-time to create a healthy work-life balance?
That balance is not possible. You can create moments for yourself. Self-care can nurture your health and well-being, which is important for normalizing the chaos that comes with motherhood.
How do you feel the project went, and what is your vision for these workshops moving forward?
The Mini-Grant program did so much for my vision to expand resources for mothers of color. Even though it was a small amount of money, it opened the doorway to connect with other community partners. These workshops have led to some lifetime partnerships that have further developed our vision and business. Moving forward, I would like to continue to host workshops in the community, as well as, host online educational workshops.
Do you have a project to improve the quality of life in your Northside community? To learn more about the One Northside Mini-Grant program and apply online, please visit the New Sun Rising website. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and reviewed bi-monthly, the next deadline for applications are March 31, 2020 and May 31, 2020.
