As the number of maternity homes increases across the country, a Texas facility extends its outreach beyond housing, establishing a unique footprint in the neighborhood.
Viola’s House, located in South Dallas, offers numerous services and stands out for its uniqueness, according to Valerie Harkins, director of the Maternity Housing Coalition.
“They are one of the few maternity homes founded and run by people of color,” she said. “That is amazing in our movement.”
Harkins said that while close to 70 percent of maternity home residents are women of color, which isn’t represented in the homes’ staff or donors.
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Thana Hickman-Simmons founded Viola’s House 10 years ago. She knows and understands the journey of unplanned pregnancy as she is a former teenage mother, and she has a mission for helping others in similar situations.
“We started in one apartment with two beds,” Hickman-Simmons told Pregnancy Help News. “I partnered with a large ministry here in South Dallas, Cornerstone Baptist Church, and they donated a house and some apartments to us.”
Her organization has grown tremendously since its inception. According to the annual report, Viola’s House reached nearly 7,400 people through its programs and services in 2023 and saw more than 98,000 visits from women and families in need, a jump of 34 percent compared with 2022.
“It’s been a journey,” Hickman-Simmons said.
“A lot of the staff are from the community itself … [and] their programs are specifically designed for their exact neighborhood, and it really shows,” Harkins said. “They want to ensure that they are the go-to spot for a pregnant woman in crisis in their area, their neighborhood, and they really are.”
The mission of Viola’s House is to provide maternity housing and support services in Dallas and the Rio Grande Valley, which has become a satellite. Ten staff members work in Brownsville.
“We're looking to see what type of housing resources are needed in the future down there,” Hickman-Simmons said.
Providing housing and trauma-informed care
Maternity housing numbers have increased significantly during the past several years, Harkins told Pregnancy Help News. The driving factor is the American economy, specifically the increased cost of housing and the number of people who lack of affordable housing.
“Over and over, women are saying, ‘Housing is so unaffordable,’” Harkins said. “These women, even if they work fulltime – it’s impossible for them to pay their bills and support themselves.”
Harkins conducted training for several of Viola’s House staff earlier this year. Many women seeking housing and services from pregnancy help organizations (PHOs) have experienced trauma in their lives. Trauma-informed care benefits patients of healthcare providers, including PHO medical clinics, and clients of maternity homes. Hawkins visited in June and conducted the training, using practical applications, she said.
For staff at Viola’s House, the training Harkins provided will build stronger relationships based on trust and safety, said Dr. Esteria Tatum Miller, DNC, MBA, Sr. Manager, Residential Services and In-House Counselor.
“This training will enable us to provide more tailored support, helping clients to feel understood and empowered on their healing journeys,” she said.
This holistic type of care paints a “complete picture of a patient’s life situation — past and present” in order to produce healing for that person, according to the Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center.
“I recognize the profound impact that trauma can have on individuals, particularly those in vulnerable situations,” Miller said. “Understanding trauma and its effects is crucial for providing compassionate and effective support to our clients, ensuring that we create a safe and healing environment for everyone.”
“Learning about trauma-informed care equips me and my staff with essential knowledge and skills to recognize and respond to the signs of trauma,” she added. “It fosters a deeper understanding of our clients’ experiences, promoting empathy and awareness. This training also helps us develop strategies to minimize triggers and support resilience, ultimately enhancing our overall approach to care.”
Heartbeat International provides online training on this topic for the staff of both pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes.
“It is essential for maternity home staff to have trauma-informed care training because many of our clients have experienced significant trauma that can affect their pregnancy and parenting,” Miller said. “This training allows us to provide a supportive environment that acknowledges and addresses these experiences, ultimately improving outcomes for both mothers and their children. By being informed and responsive, we can foster a culture of healing and resilience in our maternity home.”
Beyond the maternity home
Viola’s House provides housing for women in need, but the organization goes beyond sheltering.
“They are unique in that they have started a social services agency from a maternity home,” Harkins said.
The maternity home is central in all of it, she said, but some of the services are like what you may see in pregnancy centers or elsewhere. That includes their baby boutique, and classes with students by the thousands every week.
“They’ve renovated a four-block radius,” Harkins said, which includes a small grocery store. “They are amazing fund raisers.”
Tweet This: Viola’s House provides housing for women in need, but the organization also performs social services.
“We have grown to one of the largest social services agencies in Texas,” Hickman-Simmons said. “We have a baby benefit boutique and through that boutique we educate over 600 mothers a day that are either pregnant or parenting children under the age of three.”
“These mothers take pregnancy and parenting classes daily, and they earn baby bucks to shop in our beautiful, upscale thrift store,” she said. “Our incentive program is one of the best which is how we retain our clients so well in the community.”
Additional services are also offered. A pediatric and maternal care clinic is located next door to the baby boutique, and a mobile unit brings services out of the building, closing the transportation gap.
And that’s not all.
“Our counseling center is right on site, and we have a little neighborhood grocery store that we provide gift cards for,” Hickman-Simmons said. “We give free diapers outside of their baby bucks until their child is three years old.”
That program also makes a lasting impact.
“Last year we gave out over six million diapers,” Hickman-Simmons said. “We're set to give out 9.2 million this year.”
Viola’s House is named after Hickman-Simmons’s godmother, who made a significant impact on her.
“She represents the village you need when raising children,” Hickman-Simmons said. “I really believe in the importance of the village.”
A calling to impact generations
“It’s a calling that I said, ‘yes’ to,” she said. “I always say to people who want to start a maternity home to just say ‘yes’ and get started.”
“There are so many people who would if they knew they could,” she continued. “I am a walking, breathing example that you absolutely can – you have to be willing to learn along the way.”
“There is a huge demographic out there that’s waiting on us to get more homes open, to get more resources open,” she added, ‘and if someone could just say ‘yes’ just like me, then it opens your world up to possibilities of service in this space.”
After 10 years serving women in need, Hickman-Simmons and her staff are not finished growing. A large home was recently donated by Cornerstone Church that will become another residential space and a childcare center. The daycare will be free of charge for the mothers in the program who work jobs or attend school.
“We serve over 600 women a day, so this childcare center will be busy and likely have a waiting list,” Hickman-Simmons said.
The residential component will be created specifically for mothers who already have children, women who are often in their 30s. This additional housing component meets another demographic’s need for safe shelter.
“The home is the heartbeat of our organization,” Hickman-Simmons said of Viola’s House. “We have housed hundreds of mothers and babies since 2014. It has just been a labor of love. If we can have stable children in stable housing, we are impacting generations.”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Maternity Housing Coalition and Pregnancy Help News.
