Baby University goes above and beyond for new parents

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - In a re-purposed old Catholic school, lots of learning is taking place.

But it’s not just academic -- Baby University is teaching life lessons to area parents.

The program has been operating for 10 years and is the brainchild of Kelly Kaiser and her husband David. The pair wanted to do something in the city that went beyond tradition.

“We realized that just offering groceries and food and church services and bible studies was wonderful and much-needed, but we wanted to make a more lasting impact,” says Kaiser.

Baby University is a parenting program for parents in Toledo to come and meet other parents and start building their support network.

Brittany Fonesca says bonding with other moms in the program has been a blessing.

“You can read, you can make connections with friends. You guys can just mom together, I think a lot of people do that,” Fonesca said.

Aside from the friendships, Kaiser says parents are assigned to workers.

“Every parent gets matched with a community health worker who helps connect them with community resources and things that are in the community to help families,” Kaiser said.

Parents are also given incentives to come to class.

“Every class we came to they provided us with diapers and wipes and any other necessities that we need,” says DeLuca.

Over the decade it’s been in existence, Baby University  has armed hundreds of parents with skills during the 10-week program.

Now that there are COVID concerns, classes are taking place remotely, but Kaiser hopes for a return to the way things were soon.

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