A local leading force in the national revolutionary movement of mothering!

MotherWoman
2007
A timeline of our success

January

MotherWoman begins its fourth year as a 501c3 non-profit organization.
MotherWoman receives the first installment of a major one year grant from the Community Foundation in support of the Postpartum Stress Support Group.
MotherWoman becomes an official MomsRising.org aligned organization.
Roots and Wings- a group for mothers of teens and young adults continues into its second year.

February

MotherWoman become members of the State Advisory Board meeting on Maternal & Infant Mental Health.
MotherWoman pilots information and support evening for the family, partners and spouses of mothers experiencing postpartum emotional difficulties.
MotherWoman receives a one year grant from Deans Beans Organic Coffee.
MotherWoman launches a website forum.

March

MomsRising of the Pioneer Valley, MotherWoman’s political advocacy arm is founded
MotherWoman holds a 15 woman retreat for homeschooling mothers.
Board of Directors Development is in full swing with a new board infrastructure created and new board members joining the revolution.
Article in Amherst Bulletin about MotherWoman
MotherWoman pilots Writing Group.

April

Melanie DeSilva, Administrative Director, speaks about postpartum depression as an economic and social justice issue at the Women’s Reproductive Rights Conference, Hampshire College.
The Daily Hampshire Gazette runs a full page article with color photos about MotherWoman’s Postpartum Stress Support Group.
MotherWoman Executive Director testifies before the MA Commission on the Status of Women about postpartum depression.

May

MotherWoman hires Melanie DeSilva as its first Executive Director. DeSilva was previously the organization’s Administrative Director.
MotherWoman staff attend the MA State Summit on Maternal and Infant Mental Health.
MotherWoman files an application to Trademark the name MotherWoman
Ben and Jerry’s hosts a fundraiser for MotherWoman

June

Co-founder and Program Director, Annette Cycon, and Postpartum Support Initiative Leader Liz Friedman speak at a meeting of the Western MA Psychiatric Society on the anniversary of the Andrea Yates tragedy.
MotherWoman receives a $3500 capacity building grant from the Women’s Fund to develop and implement a 3 year fundraising plan.
MomsRising of the Pioneer Valley launches a campaign to restore midwifery services to Cooley Dickinson Hospital (CDH), organizing community focus groups with the CEO of CDH.
Letter to the Editor from MotherWoman appears in Daily Hampshire Gazette
MotherWoman’s 2nd annual tag sale becomes so big that it is now called The Mother of All Tag Sales. Stan Rosenberg and Steve Herrell buy items at the tag sale. $2000 raised!

August

MotherWoman receives a critical donation from Florence Savings Bank to continue the postpartum stress support group throughout the summer.
Annette Cycon, Co-founder and Program Director, speaks to labor and delivery staff at Mary Lane Hospital.
MotherWoman develops a new, improved accounting structure.
Letter to the Editor from MotherWoman appears in Advocate.

September

The Maternal Depression issue of MotherWoman Journal is published. The best issue yet.
MotherWoman develops a new mission statement.
MotherWoman completes a draft 3-year strategic plan.
Proceeds from the play BIRTH are dedicated to MotherWoman.
The Greenfield MotherWoman Group begins.
MotherWoman holds a Red Tent on the Amherst Town Common.
The MotherWoman Group at the Amherst Family Center begins its 8th year.
Two Greenfield newspapers publish stories about MotherWoman’s new Greenfield Group
MotherWoman participates in the annual Breastfeeding Awareness Day March in Amherst.

October

MotherWoman trains members of the ServiceNet staff on pregnancy and postpartum emotional difficulties, officially launching the professional training component of MotherWoman’s Postpartum Support Initiative.
MotherWoman launches its pilot facilitator training program with 10 community mothers.
60 people come to a screening of documentary film The Motherhood Manifesto in Northampton.
MomsRising members travel to Springfield to protest Bush’s veto of a crucial children’s health care bill.
Tag Sale in Winter clothes tag sale in Greenfield raises money and introduces the Greenfield Community to MotherWoman - $600 raised
The Pregnancy and Postpartum Support Coalition of Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden Counties founded by
MotherWoman, celebrates its one year anniversary.
MotherWoman’s Postpartum Stress Group celebrates its one year anniversary
MotherWoman staff is invited to meet with psychiatrists, social workers and nurses at the Postpartum Depression
Day Program at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence.

November

MotherWoman hosts the 2nd Annual Women’s Poetry Open Mic in Holyoke. Our first public event in Holyoke, outreach for this event provided opportunities for networking and relationship building in the Holyoke area for the first time.
Mom’s Night Out at the MotherWoman Café with Silent Auction raises $6500 for MotherWoman, more than all previous fundraising events undertaken by MotherWoman combined. At the event, the speaker, poet Patricia Smith and the audience create the “100 woman poem.”
Annette Cycon and Liz Friedman, leaders of MotherWoman’s Postpartum Support Initiative receive a standing ovation for their presentation on Postpartum Emotional Difficulties at the Children’s Trust Fund Conference.
MotherWoman provides professional training to the staff of Franklin Medical Center’s birthing center on pregnancy and postpartum emotional difficulties.
MotherWoman begins scheduling professional trainings for the Care Center in Holyoke, the Parent Child Development Center, the Breastfeeding Task Force, and Healthy Families.

December

MotherWoman receives a $1500 from the Open Meadows Foundation to fund one childcare provider for the MotherWoman Postpartum Stress Group.
MomsRising of the Pioneer Valley sends 80 letters of support and letters from mothers who had been harassed in public for breastfeeding to the MA state legislature in support of legislation to make breastfeeding in public a civil right.
MotherWoman convenes the first planning meeting of its women of color diversity initiative.
MotherWoman provides introductory training on postpartum emotional difficulties to the staff of Hampshire OB/GYN
MomsRising of the Pioneer Valley receives a Halo from the Valley Advocate for its work to restore midwifery to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.