Stories of Impact: Crittenton

By Kristiana Ringer, Development Associate, Crittenton

Crittenton was established in 1903 and has served over 45,000 mothers, girls, and children from across North Carolina through our residential programs located in Charlotte. Our mission is to empower women and children through education, health, residential care, and supportive services. We serve pregnant girls and women living in crisis, teenage mothers and their babies who are both in foster care, and teenage girls aging out of foster care. Our comprehensive services are evidence-based, trauma-informed, and designed to meet each client’s individual needs, helping them overcome barriers to achieve long-term self-sufficiency and stability. 

Crittenton receives applications from potential clients on an ongoing basis with a wide range of needs. Our programs are designed to meet each client where they are and support them as they work towards their personal goals and overcome barriers. Current challenges our clients are facing include securing affordable housing in a region experiencing an affordable housing crisis, navigating social services, finding employment, and overcoming personal challenges including substance usage and poor mental health. The WIF grant helped us provide quality support services for our clients, empowering them to reach their goals and create better tomorrows for themselves and their families.

Thanks to the support of the Women’s Impact Fund (WIF), Crittenton supported 157 mothers, girls, and children in residential and aftercare programs for 11,549 residential days of care. We provided educational programming for clients on topics including safe and healthy parenting skills, childbirth, healthy relationships, financial literacy, self-empowerment, substance use prevention, and independent living skills. We met our clients’ basic needs, helping them shift out of survival mode and begin focusing on longer-term goals including housing, educational achievement, and vocational stability. One hundred percent of babies born to Crittenton mothers were released to their mother’s care, an indication of the baby being born drug-free and the mother’s ability to provide a safe and stable home environment. We provided 179 hours of prenatal and safe parenting education, empowering mothers with knowledge and support to break generational cycles of abuse and family dysfunction. 6 youth in foster care graduated from high school, meeting a major educational milestone and improving their long-term life outcomes. 1 client recently completed her first semester of college where she is studying to become a social worker with a dream of helping kids who grew up in similar situations as she did.

We are expanding our Aftercare Program which provides continued support, supplies, and resources for families after they leave our residential programs. We supported 21 families in FY24, making referrals to housing and social services, supplying diapers, baby clothes, infant formula, and baby supplies, offering counseling, and providing Christmas presents and holiday meals to help make the season magical. Demand for this program is growing, and we are developing a more structured curriculum to best support the long-term stability and upward mobility of these families.

Crittenton envisions ending the generational cycle of poverty and trauma, creating better tomorrows. We anticipate the number of program participants increasing as we conduct more outreach across the state and within the greater Charlotte region. We are being intentional about program development areas we are investing in; housing resources, improving in-house services, and staff development are our current focuses.

To that end, Crittenton welcomes volunteers year-round to help us meet a variety of needs. We need volunteers to babysit and give young mothers a day/night off, lead educational and recreational activities based on the volunteer’s skills, provide and serve a meal, or donate items on our wish list here.