You nurture everyone. Let us nurture you.
A village for postpartum mothers and mother figures. We care for you while you rest and heal, then help you rediscover your passions and purpose. Because you were always more than a mom.
Our Mission
The Postpartum Promise Foundation builds a village around postpartum mothers and mother figures. We give them the rest, sisterhood and support they need to heal, and the confidence to pursue the passions and purpose that make them more than a mother.
We welcome every woman who mothers, and we center Black mothers, who face the greatest risks after birth and receive the least support.
We're based in Northern Virginia — our in-person gatherings happen around Alexandria. Wherever you are, you're welcome here: virtual support is growing for mamas everywhere.
Our Purpose
Motherhood is sacred. It was never meant to be all you are.
The world celebrates the pregnancy, then goes quiet once the baby comes home. Somewhere between the late-night feedings and everyone else's needs, a lot of us lose sight of the woman we were, and stop dreaming about the woman we could become.
We exist so no mother disappears behind her children. We surround you with a village that checks on you, feeds you, gives you room to rest and heal, and then helps you find your way back to your passions, your goals and your purpose.
Healing is not the finish line. It is the starting point. Our work is to help you get strong and confident enough to reach for the life you want, as a mother and as a whole woman.
Our vision: a village where every mother is seen, supported and free to become everything she's meant to be.
Why We Center Black Mothers
Open to all. Centered on the mothers with the least support.
Every woman who mothers is welcome here. We center Black mothers on purpose, because of what the numbers show about who has been left without care the longest.
The danger doesn't end at delivery. For Black mothers, it often grows after.
Heart conditions are the leading cause of pregnancy-related death for Black mothers. Postpartum heart failure (peripartum cardiomyopathy) is about four times as common among Black women, and it most often strikes weeks to months after birth.
The warning signs look like "just being a tired new mom." Shortness of breath, swelling and exhaustion are easy to brush off, especially when no one is checking on you.
Too often, Black women aren't believed. When a mother speaks up about how she feels and is dismissed, precious time is lost.
Care drops off right when the risk peaks. Routine follow-up usually ends around six weeks, while many of these deaths happen long after.
These outcomes are not about being Black. They come from gaps in care, in being heard and in having support at home through the whole first year. A village that keeps checking on you, believes you and helps you speak up for yourself can make the difference. When we build for the mothers with the least support, we build something stronger for every mother.
The Numbers
Why this matters, in numbers.
For Black mothers
Black women in the U.S. die from pregnancy-related causes at more than three times the rate of White women: 44.8 vs. 14.2 deaths per 100,000 births in 2024.
Of pregnancy-related deaths happen between one week and one year after birth, when most mothers are home and the doctor visits have stopped.
Pregnancy-related deaths are considered preventable. Being checked on, believed and supported matters.
Sources: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2024; CDC Maternal Mortality Review Committee data, 2017–2019; JACC: Advances, Cardiomyopathy Prevalence and Pregnancy-Related Mortality, 2010–2020.
For non-gestational parents
At three to six months after birth, depression affects up to 1 in 4 non-gestational parents — and almost none of them are ever screened for it.
Source: Paulson & Bazemore, JAMA (2010), meta-analysis of 43 studies of non-birthing parents in the first year after birth.
For every mother
mothers experience a mental health condition during pregnancy or in the first year after birth. It's the most common complication of pregnancy and childbirth, touching about 800,000 U.S. families a year.
Source: Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, 2025.
women report symptoms of postpartum depression after a recent live birth.
Source: CDC, Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS).
births in the U.S. are cesarean deliveries — meaning about a third of new mothers are also recovering from major surgery while they care for a newborn.
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Births: Final Data for 2024 (32.4%).
of women living with a maternal mental health condition go without the treatment they need.
Source: Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, 2025.
How the Village Works
We pour into you first. When your cup is full, you pour it forward.
You can't pour from an empty cup, and no mother should have to. When you come to us, you come to rest and heal, with no expectation to give anything back. Our founders, board and volunteers pour into you first. Then, when you're ready and only when you say so, you get to pour into the mothers coming after you. That's the promise that keeps the village going.
Receive
Rest, village support and self care — your kids cared for right on site, and sisterhood with women who understand. Nothing is asked of you here but to show up as you are.
Heal and grow
Regular check-ins, mentors and real support getting back to your goals, your work and the dreams you set aside. We walk with you at your pace.
Pour it forward
When you tell us you're ready, we open the door to giving back: mentoring a newer mom, sharing a skill or serving at an event. Your story becomes someone else's hope.
The Postpartum Promise
Before you ever walk through our doors, here is what we promise you.
We promise to catch you before you fall.
Motherhood can be one of the loneliest seasons of a woman's life. We'll check on you, lift you up and walk with you through the hard days.
We promise you sisterhood.
A safe, nurturing space to be honest, to laugh, to say what you need and receive it, and to be poured into by women who understand.
We promise you'll see yourself here.
Look at another mother and see yourself in her, both where you are and where you want to be.
We promise to help you thrive.
Mentors, resume help and a way back to work or to the dreams you set aside. In this village, women open doors for each other.
We promise to give to you before we ever ask to receive.
You come here to heal, not to perform. No pressure, no requirements. When you're full and ready, you'll find a place to pay it forward.
Above all, we promise to remember who you are.
You are more than a mother. You are a woman with a purpose, passions of your own and a future still unfolding, and we're here to help you remember it.
How We Show Up
Your village, every month. Always free for moms.
Monthly Mama Meetups
Bring the kids. They'll be cared for in their own space at the venue while you're just steps away.
Adults-Only Field Trips
An adults-only day just for you, with three stops like a class, a show and dinner. While you're out, your little ones stay at our partner venue, Rooted Foundation, cared for by our licensed childcare partner.
Promise Membership
Free to join. Tell us about you and your family so we can plan with you in mind, check in on you and help you find your people.
Childcare at The Postpartum Promise
Bring your babies. We'll care for them right here, close to you.
No ride, no babysitter, no family nearby, or no money for a sitter? None of that should keep you from your village. So the kids come with you.
Proudly partnered with Rooted Foundation, our microschool home, event and childcare venue.
Same place, their own space.
At every meetup and event, and one day in our clubhouse, children have a dedicated kids' area on the same property as their moms. You're never far away.
Engaged and enriched.
Our licensed childcare partner and background-checked volunteers supervise and lead activities, so kids play, learn and make friends while you rest and connect.
Not a drop-off daycare.
Our care is for foundation programs only. We don't offer babysitting or drop-off care outside of them. The one exception: foundation-hosted, adults-only events like Adults-Only Field Trips, when kids stay at our partner venue, Rooted Foundation, with our licensed childcare partner while you're out.
Need everyday childcare?
We'll help connect you with trusted childcare and babysitting options, including mom-owned childcare businesses right here in our village.
Volunteer
It takes a village. Come be part of one.
Our volunteers are the ones who nurture first. There are two ways into this work.
Village Supporters
For anyone who wants to pour into mothers. You don't have to be a mom or have children. Aunties, friends, professionals, neighbors, students and community members who believe mothers deserve better are welcome. Supporters join through the volunteer application and commit to the standards below.
Member Moms Paying It Forward
For mothers in our village who've been poured into and feel ready to give back. Through regular check-ins, we'll ask how you're doing. When you tell us you're ready, volunteer roles open up to you at a pace that fits your season. If life gets heavy again, you can step back anytime. No guilt.
Mama Mentor
An experienced mom paired with a newer mom for regular check-ins, encouragement and a listening ear.
Welcome Circle
Call or text new members, greet moms at events and make sure no one walks in feeling like a stranger.
Behind the Scenes
Photography, social media, grant writing, design and admin. The work that keeps the village running.
Pamper Pros
Licensed nail techs, massage therapists, stylists, braiders, yoga and sound bath instructors who donate their services.
Skill Share Hosts
Lead a workshop on resumes, careers, budgeting, starting a business or a passion you can teach.
Welcome Home Circle
Help a new mama and baby come home and settle in — a ride home from the hospital, a meal train that keeps food coming, a night shift so she can sleep, and a care circle holding down the little things in those first days.
Kids' Corner Helpers
Support our licensed childcare staff with crafts, reading and play. Background check required.
Meal Makers
Cook or deliver nourishing meals for mothers in the early weeks after birth.
What we ask of our volunteers
We protect this village fiercely. Every volunteer, whether a Supporter or a member mom who's opted in, agrees to the same standard. Moms who are still healing are never expected to volunteer.
- Apply and attend orientation. Every volunteer completes an application and a short orientation before serving.
- Pass a background check for any role with children or one-on-one time with moms.
- Give what you can, when you can. There's no required number of hours. When you sign up for a shift or a mom, we just ask that you show up — or let us know if life changes, so our moms can count on the village.
- Keep it confidential. What's shared in the village stays in the village.
- Lead with no judgment. Every kind of mother and every kind of family is honored here.
- Support, don't sell. No recruiting, selling or soliciting to our moms, and no medical or mental health advice. We connect moms to licensed professionals.
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Thank you for pouring in.
Your information goes only to The Postpartum Promise Foundation. We never sell or share it.
Who We Serve
If you mother, you belong here.
Our doors are open to every woman carrying the weight of caring for someone else — and we center Black mothers and the Black community. First-time moms and moms of many. Single, married or partnered. Aunties, grandmothers and big sisters who stepped up. Foster, adoptive, step and bonus moms. Non-gestational mothers — mothers and parents who didn't carry their baby, whether a partner who didn't carry or a mother whose baby was carried by a surrogate. Mothers grieving a loss. Teen moms and moms who started later. Week one or years in. Money tight or money right, everything we offer moms is free.
The Hearts Behind the Promise
Brianna & Malik Patterson
Co-Founders and Directors
Brianna and Malik founded The Postpartum Promise Foundation to build the village every mother deserves. As parents, they've seen how easily a mother's needs get overlooked while she cares for everyone else, and how quickly she can lose sight of who she is beyond motherhood.
They're building a community centered on Black mothers, where women rest, form real friendships, pour into one another and reconnect with their own goals and passions. Their promise is simple: mothers deserve to be poured into too.
Thank You
Our Supporters
Thank you to the funders who believe in our mothers.
CAREducation
Partner Launch Grant · $1,000
Come as you are. Join the village.
There are two ways in. Choose the one that fits you today.
We're based in Northern Virginia — our in-person gatherings happen around Alexandria. Wherever you are, you're welcome here: virtual support is growing for mamas everywhere.
Something went wrong sending this — please try again.
Welcome to the village.
Your information goes only to The Postpartum Promise Foundation. We never sell or share it.
Already a member mom and feeling ready to pay it forward? Let us know at your next check-in, and we'll open volunteer roles to you.