Last month, I took my team to Cortez. My company, Goldbug, continues to focus our corporate giving on improving maternal health. Good philanthropy is not a spectator sport. It’s important to know the community you invest in. On my last visit, I met a new mom who earned her master’s degree from the University of Denver. She worked at a local gas station and relied on the father to take care of her child while she was at work to make ends meet. Being a mother is stressful enough, but you don’t want to have to worry about whether you’ll be able to keep your job if you have to take the morning off to take your baby to the doctor.
Serving mothers and babies is at the heart of what we do, which is why we invested in Denver Health’s doula program and, more recently, Colorado’s Guaranteed Income Project, which aims to support the mental and physical wellbeing of mothers and infants through financial stability.
Twenty mothers in urban Denver and rural Cortez received $750 in unconditional cash assistance for 15 months through the Healthy Beginnings program, which begins in the third trimester of pregnancy. Local health partners recruited financially disadvantaged mothers over the age of 18. In addition to the monthly assistance, they also received additional funds to attend medical appointments.
This is the first guaranteed income pilot focused on maternal health in Colorado and the only program in the nation funded by a private sector company. The program is based on extensive research showing that early childhood trauma (for which living in poverty increases risk) leads to neurodevelopmental disorders, cognitive, emotional and social problems. If left unaddressed, these problems continue throughout life, leading to increased costs for the social welfare and justice systems, and lower workforce participation rates. Ultimately, this leads to more dependency on the system and less empowerment.
It is no exaggeration to say that maternal health is a matter of life and death. Experts estimate that experiencing childhood trauma shortens life expectancy by 20 years. In addition to the potential benefits for children, we are equally interested in improving maternal health. In Colorado, suicide is the leading cause of maternal death, higher than the national average. Providing financial support to new mothers is a vital tool to improve these outcomes for babies and mothers.
That’s why we supported two innovative policies passed this legislative session. Colorado has been on the forefront in establishing the Caregiver Earned Income Tax Credit and the Family Cost Reduction Tax Credit. Colorado Children’s Campaign estimates that the Caregiver Earned Income Tax Credit would provide child care providers with nearly $60 million in needed resources each year. The Family Cost Reduction Tax Credit is modeled after the successful but short-lived Expanded Child Tax Credit and provides families with flexible funding of up to $3,200 per child per year.
To help improve public policies like this pilot program and tax credits, we’re collecting important data about the medical access, mental health care, and overall health of the mothers we serve and their beautiful babies. And we’re learning a lot.
We know that 75% of our participants participate in WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) and HealthFirst CO programs to help with food and medical costs. Before we started the program, nearly half of the mothers couldn’t make the minimum payment on their existing debt, and 85% of participants were below the national average on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s economic well-being scale. In addition to paying mothers, we also invest in research into how the funds are impacting mothers and their babies.
Data from national programs shows that such programs can be transformative. The Expanded Child Tax Credit, which provided nearly every American parent with up to $300 per month in 2021, was the best tool ever used to fight child poverty. Parents kept working and spent the money on basic needs. The results were big: child poverty fell by nearly half. In the month it expired, child poverty soared by more than 40%. Bipartisan efforts to revive it continue in Congress, but have stalled due to congressional dysfunction.
In the meantime, we’re doing our part here in Colorado as a company founded for mothers and babies. On a recent visit to Cortez, we met with local advocates and health care workers and listened to the stories of the mothers we serve. The takeaway for me is that amid each family’s unique situation, the one big common denominator is maternal instinct. And the data we’re collecting through surveys and roundtables bears that out. Digging into what most of us feel as first-time mothers, one participant said she’s anxious about pregnancy because “I don’t want to fail.” [her] “Children can be hurt by ignorance about something or by passing on intergenerational trauma.” As CEO of a successful children’s accessories company based in Denver, I wear many hats and serve several roles as a community leader, board member, friend, neighbor, but most importantly, and above them all, I am a mom.
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As I did with my son, I have a maternal instinct, and the connection with a child knows no class, race or geographic boundaries. No one knows better than I do what it means to be a mother to a child. So why does our social security system tell less fortunate mothers how to care for their children? If you’re a mother, you know that the saying “mother knows best” isn’t just a cliché.
Do whatever it takes to get the job done, and your life is truly defined by the experiences you have. I realized this when I listened to new moms talk about their babies. There are definitely common experiences. There are sadness and joy, a lot of stress and fatigue. There are relationship challenges and feelings of loneliness.
And it’s the determination and love for their children that transcends it all. Mothers told us that receiving additional resources allows them to focus on the things that bring them joy, like exercise and spending time with their newborns and families. They spoke about the stress of managing money within existing relationships and the feelings of loneliness and isolation that come with motherhood, especially if you live in a rural community.
Looking at the results from the first few months, we see where mothers are spending their money. The data proves that maternal instincts run deep. Mothers who had cash resources to spend on whatever they wanted spent most of their allocated money on basics: 46% on food, 13% on transportation, and 11% on utilities.
There’s nothing flashy or outlandish going on. In our research and in our first roundtable, mothers talked about being able to buy better quality food and paying off debt. They spent money on things that would help their babies thrive. Not surprisingly, mothers’ instincts are to nourish their babies, and the available resources allow them to meet those demands.
I left Cortez with a shared experience that boils down to the fact that many mothers don’t have the basic resources they need to follow their maternal instincts. As a company, I believe that through our donations, we are learning and identifying ways to positively impact maternal health and support mothers and their babies. I firmly believe that as business owners, we have a responsibility to truly care for our customers. These projects are our way of giving back and investing in change.
As a member of the private sector, I can take risks and execute more quickly and efficiently than government. We can catalyze and innovate, but it is up to our public sector leaders to advance proven interventions like the Family Cost-Effective Tax Credit.
We believe there is an opportunity to work together across sectors locally and across the country to drive improvements in benefits and maternal health public policies, and ensure that all mothers have the support they need to raise healthy babies. And we’re just getting started.
Katherine Gold is CEO and President of Goldbug, a 55-year-old woman-owned business based in Denver. A mother and working professional, Katherine has led the company to become a market leader in baby and toddler accessories and has consistently been committed to philanthropy. She serves as treasurer of the American Apparel and Footwear Association and is on the boards of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and Delivering Good. She previously served as board chair for the Rose Community Foundation and the Colorado Children’s Campaign. Goldbug is committed to working to improve maternal health locally and nationally.
