The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless reports that in 2004, there were nearly 16,500 homeless female youth in Illinois, aged 12-21—68% of whom were pregnant.  However, in 2005, there were only 212 shelter beds in the entire state for homeless youth with children—meeting only 1.8% of the overall need.  The national pregnancy rate of teens living in poverty has doubled to over 60% in the last ten years.  And the number of homeless female youth in Illinois who are pregnant and/or parenting has more than doubled in the last 20 years, rising from 33-68%. 

New Moms is the only Chicago agency exclusively serving pregnant and parenting teens, and one of only two homeless agencies serving this population. Our supportive housing facility represents 53.2% of beds in the City of Chicago for this extraordinarily underserved population of homeless youth. Yet in 2008, we turned away 642 homeless teen moms and their children as we did not room for them.  Furthermore, we are the only agency in Chicago offering comprehensive services—supportive housing as well as individualized case management, parenting education, early childhood programming and self-sufficiency services to this particularly vulnerable group of moms and kids.