The Magnolia Mothers Trust

The last two years have been anything but predictable. Despite returns to offices, travel resuming, and the end of lockdowns and mandates, the economic, social, and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to play out most devastatingly in low-income communities and communities of color. Mothers in our communities were fired when they became ill and could not go to work. Schools remained virtual for many Jackson families and both childcare centers and classrooms were disrupted by unplanned closures when students were infected. Families dealt with the physical and emotional toll as sickness and loss came to their own family.

According to national data collected throughout the pandemic, material hardship, or the inability to pay for basic needs like housing, food, and utilities, was a major contributing factor to parental emotional distress. Additionally, unpredictability, particularly in the ability to provide for a family’s basic needs, affected family well-being more than even pre-pandemic household income. With cost of living expenses and inflation on the rise, families who might have been starting to feel a sense of stability at times in 2021, began to again report increased material hardship and instability.

In contrast to national trends, The Magnolia Mother’s Trust, provided consistency and a baseline of support in a world that continued to be increasingly unpredictable. Throughout the duration of the program, Magnolia Mother’s Trust participants reported an enhanced sense of self-efficacy and agency, allowing them to make their own decisions around work, prioritize the care of the children and family, and demonstrate a stronger sense of self and emotional well-being for both themselves and their children.

But don’t just take our word for it. This year’s evaluation report is filled with direct quotes, stories, and wisdom from the mothers who were a part of the program. In it you will see how the Magnolia Mother’s Trust created an enhanced sense of self for participants, provided the ability to care for their children and families in new way, and changed the way they were able to think about work and long-term careers.

We would like to thank the amazing team at Social Insights who served as our evaluation partners, conducted a thoughtful and inclusive evaluation process throughout the year, and ultimately put together this report that centers the beautiful stories and experiences of our mothers. We would also like to thank the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for believing in this work and funding the evaluation.

The full report as well as a shorter summary are available on our website and thank you to The 19th for sharing the result and the story. We hope you’ll take some time to read the highlights below in addition to the full report!

The McNulty Foundation and the Aspen Institute just announced the three winners of the 2022 John P. McNulty Prize, and CEO Aisha Nyandoro and The Magnolia Mother’s Trust were named one of this years’ three winners! We are honored to be in such incredible company with other global leaders working to end malnutrition, thirst, and poverty.

The McNulty Foundation seeks to give transformational support to emerging and established leaders at pivotal moments in their leadership journey. Founded in 1985, the Foundation embodies the founders’ belief that every individual deserves agency and opportunity in their own lives, and that courageous individuals can have a multiplier effect through their leadership.

The John P. McNulty Prize celebrates:

• BREAKTHROUGH LEADERS. Since 2008, the Prize has identified breakthrough leaders and ventures with innovative models of change, and put them on a fast track to greater recognition and support.
• DEEP & LASTING CHANGE. Winning organizations work in partnership with communities & center their agency and self-determination. They operate in diverse communities across the globe, touching millions of lives.
• EXAMPLES OF MORAL COURAGE. The Prize celebrates individuals who answered a call in their own lives, through personal risk, to consciously turn their talents and resources to creating change.
• A SPECTRUM OF LEADERSHIP & IMPACT. The Prize elevates global leaders with a range of backgrounds and experiences. Winners take different approaches to making change, varying in scale and depth, organizational structure, and mission.

Created by Anne Welsh McNulty in honor of her late husband, the annual award is a call to action, recognizing Winners who have demonstrated moral courage, a vision for change, and a track record of bold and lasting impact. Each receives $150,000 and foundational support to amplify their efforts, and are selected by an international jury that includes Darren Walker, Cheryl Dorsey, Olara Otunnu, and Brizio Biondi-Morra. Previous juries have included Madeleine Albright, Richard Branson, Mary Robinson, and Bill Gates, Sr. The McNulty Prize is given in partnership with the Aspen Institute, to recognize exceptional leadership ventures undertaken by their Fellows.

While we are so honored by the recognition, we also know that the real leaders in this work are the incredible mothers who inspired and created the program and continue to show the world that when we trust families and provide them with the resources that they need, amazing things can happen. They are our inspiration and the reason that we continue to do the work that we do. So we hope you’ll join with us today in celebrating this award and all the incredible Magnolia Mother’s Trust moms who made it happen!

As a part of our radically resident-driven philosophy, we are always trying to listen to the voices of our residents and adjust accordingly as unexpected circumstances and changes become apparent in their lives. This was especially key in the spring of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic first descended on the country.

While we’ve talked a lot about our economic security responses during that time, the pandemic brought additional trauma into communities that were already experiencing the trauma of poverty and long-standing consequences of systemic racism in the United States. As residents worried about the health and safety of their families, experienced less time for themselves and their own needs, and became increasingly isolated from friends, family, and other relationships, residents expressed a need for mental health support and a trusted community to lean on in the midst of crisis, even if they were already receiving cash benefits.

When we talk about prosperity, we often link it simply to economic security. But we started wondering what would happen if we expanded our definition to recognize the importance of mental health and wellness in helping families thrive.

What if having trusted community and support during a crisis mattered just as much as cash? What would it look like for families to experience holistic prosperity beyond just financial prosperity?

These were some of the questions that we set out to answer as a part of Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Family Prosperity Innovation Community. We worked alongside mental health experts and residents to co-create a self-care toolkit and program intended to support growth, healing, and leadership amongst participants we came to call the MISS Program. As a part of this program, participants reported on metrics comparable to those used in the evaluation of The Magnolia Mother’s Trust to help us better understand if there were ways self-care and mental health supports could support families in ways that cash does not.

And today, we are proud to share with you our final report summarizing the findings from this initiative. Highlights include decreases in difficulty with mood and mental health, less reported days feeling worried or anxious, improved physical health, and more healthy coping mechanisms. The full report is available below. We hope you find time to read it through. Beyond the initial statistics are quotes and stories from families finding hope and community, comparisons to our guaranteed income evaluation findings, and recommendations for cash policies and guaranteed income pilots.

Our mission has always been to help families reach their goals in all aspects of their lives. And with programs like MISS, families can take one more step toward holistic prosperity.