Jeremiah Program Coaching Means Community

Deanna Giordano joined the Jeremiah Program Brooklyn team as a family coach during the COVID-19 pandemic. While there were lots of logistics to navigate, she was excited, not only because she relished the opportunity to partner with JP moms on their journeys with education, career, and parenthood — but also because she was a new mom herself.

Her parallel experiences as a mom and a JP coach have merged, so that her learning in one realm constantly informs the other. And that’s just the way she likes it. She spoke about her dual, intertwined journeys in an interview, shedding light on the sense of community embedded in JP coaching.

What is your approach to family coaching at JP?

I’m thinking back to my first interview with JP, when they asked me, “What does single motherhood mean to you?” Both my grandmothers were single mothers, but what does motherhood mean to me? I was a new mom at the time. When I was interviewed, my son was 6 months old. By the time I was hired and acclimated into the position, he was 9 months. So, almost as long as I’ve been a mom, I’ve been a JP coach.

So, when they asked me in the interview, “What are you going to tell the moms to do?” I’m like, “We’re gonna learn together, and if I don’t know, I’m gonna find out either from them or find out for them or from other sources.” It’s always going to be a discovery because I don’t know everything. And even if I had a 20-year-old kid, I still would not know everything. Though I am a support system for our moms, being a mom myself, we can share information and learn from each other, which is how I envision the job. Not as me being the one-all source, but someone who’s open to learn more for others and learn from others, too.

What’s your favorite thing about being a JP coach?

Oh my gosh! Getting to watch other moms’ children grow up: while they’re in the program, watching them develop, and what they like to do, what activities they learn, how they’re doing in school, how they’re doing if they’re in the tutoring program, and also being able to share experiences with moms with children of similar ages.

One mom was very scared about her son having to have his adenoids and tonsils removed, and that literally had just happened to my son. So not only was I able to talk her through, “Hey, if you’re not comfortable, get a second opinion,” but also suggest a storybook she could prep her child with.

I find that, even though we have our trainings and the technical part of the job — yes, you have to be on point with documentation and the curriculum — I feel like being a mom also helps me because I have a frame of reference that I can pull from sometimes to support other moms. And sometimes they have a frame of reference to help me, so it’s a community.

“My village is not just my friends and family but also my JP family and moms that I support because we all learn something, and that’s how a community is.”

What’s one of your favorite memories that illustrates this community between JP moms and coaches?

I always ask moms around my son’s age, “How are you doing with potty training?” because there’s a book that I had online that I could send them. It wasn’t helping me, but I just figured it was because I’m neurodivergent, so the book might be helpful to others.

This specific mom said, “Oh no, I don’t need that book. I just told my son that we’re out of pull-ups. We don’t have any more.” I was like, “What?! Oh, wow.” She’s like, “Yeah, you just don’t have any more. And that feeling of uneasiness for two or three minutes before you change them after they have an accident will boost them to remember, ‘I should go to the bathroom because I don’t have something helping me feel dry if I forget.’”

As weird as that was for me to hear, I started to practice that. Two months after that conversation, her son was fully potty trained because she was very, very firm in that idea. I was kind of on the fence. Lately, I’ve been doing that. I’m like, “When you go to school, there’s no pull-ups.” And for the last three months, he’s been going to the bathroom, no accidents in school.

Do you have another story that illustrates this dynamic of learning for and from JP moms?

Another mom asked me, “How is [my son] Louis doing? Isn’t he in kindergarten? How’s his math and reading?” And I had said, “I really wish he would be on point with the reading as much as he is with math.” He’s at a third-grade math level in kindergarten.

And the mom told me, “You need to get Bob Books!” I got the book, and in three days, my son is reading.

So I sent her a video of my son reading. When she came to the office for her next coaching session, she was so happy for Louis. She had given me some steps. Now, just as she has done this for me, I have this to share with other moms moving forward.

And when her son came to the office, too, he said, “How is Louis?” And I said, “Louis is reading!” And he goes, “I saw the video. I had the same books growing up.” So it was just such a nice, circular moment.

It’s a constant, and it warms my heart. My mom passed away when I was 25, so I don’t have the other community that I would have, and my aunt doesn’t remember raising her boys; they’re a few years younger than me. My community that I have outside of the job is minuscule, so it means a lot to me that I can give of myself to this role but also gain so much.

As you think about the relationship between JP coaches and families, what else would you like to share?

I learn and I share, and I just think that being a mom is a position where you’re constantly learning — and that it takes a village. I have to say: My village is not just my friends and family but also my JP family and moms that I support because we all learn something, and that’s how a community is. It’s not one person who knows everything. Everybody contributes to that experience and to the growth. So, when I learn something, I share it.

I just love it. I’m really learning a lot about motherhood while helping other mothers grow.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interested in partnering with families on their journeys to economic mobility?

Through our holistic two-generation approach, single moms have the support to complete a college degree, chart their career path, and invest in their children’s education and social-emotional development.

Families are the experts, and JP staff work with them to create a support structure that addresses their unique challenges to achieving economic mobility.

learn about careers at jp

Did Deanna’s experience resonate with you? A monthly gift goes further to support JP families.