Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Parenting Support topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Founder of The Parent Collective describes prenatal classes, national expansion and ties to paid-leave advocacy
Summary
Jessica Hill, founder of The Parent Collective, tells the CT Paid Leave podcast that the nonprofit runs four-week neighborhood prenatal classes to build local support for expectant parents; she said the program has grown to 15 locations and is expanding nationally.
Jessica Hill, founder of The Parent Collective, described a neighborhood-based prenatal education series that pairs expectant parents by due date and location to form ongoing support networks.
On the CT Paid Leave podcast, Hill said the Parent Collective’s classes run about four weeks and teach labor preparedness and newborn care while helping participants “build local connections that will see them through that transition to parenthood.” The format, she said, groups participants by neighborhood and due date so new parents form enduring, local relationships.
Hill traced the program’s inspiration to the National Childbirth Trust in the United Kingdom, where she lived while having her children. She said that model’s emphasis on small, local cohorts and social connection motivated her to launch a U.S. version after returning to Fairfield County, Connecticut. “I had this group of friends…we spent most days in a coffee shop or someone's living room, sipping tea and feeding our babies,” she said, describing the community she wanted to recreate.
The Parent Collective began in Fairfield County and, according to Hill, has grown to 15 locations with local location directors in several metropolitan areas. “We are in the process of expanding on a national scale,” she said, describing a deliberate rollout aimed at reducing isolation among new parents.
Hill also described an advocacy connection: she said she became involved with CT Paid Leave through volunteer work with Chamber of Mothers, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for paid leave, affordable childcare and maternal health—issues she described as closely tied to the Parent Collective’s mission.
For more information, Hill said the organization can be found on Instagram at theparentcollectiveTPC, on LinkedIn under The Parent Collective, on TikTok as Parent Collective, and online at www.theparentcollective.com. The episode host, Nancy Barrow, noted listeners can find deeper CT Paid Leave resources at ctpaidleave.org.
The interview was a short segment in the CT Paid Leave podcast series “5 Minutes of Impact,” which highlights local changemakers focused on family and workplace policy.
