2023 Community Champion: Maritza Raimundi-Petroski

“People are finally connecting the dots. They’re realizing that you can’t address early childhood development without addressing trauma and systems of care that need improvement.”
– Maritza Raimundi-Petroski, Vice President, The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey

What accomplishment makes you most proud?

For me, the greatest accomplishment is to see children who were once in the bellies of their moms thrive. I used to do parenting classes and prenatal services, and I’ve been involved with the agency for 20 years. Some of these babies are now either going to college or some of them have graduated from college. To have them ask for a letter of reference because they’ve been doing community service here, or to hear that they’re applying for school and they want guidance, or to see some of the moms I’ve been working with from the very beginning achieve their own personal goals, whatever that may be. That’s my personal “why.” It just tells me, “Job well done.”

It’s not so much the title. It’s not so much the work I do in professional development, capacity building, strategic planning, organizational development. All those things are things you aspire to as a professional working in the community. But it’s that intangible piece when you see them outside in the community. When they see you and they give you a hug or they tell you, “I’m doing this, we’re doing that.” I’m seeing the long-term impact, because we’re working with children and with moms, and the entire family.

And I would add that in every opportunity, every career I’ve had, I’ve had the chance to mentor and to coach and to support others who I hope will take my place one day. For me, having interns, having fellows, being able to promote members from the same community from within is so rewarding. We have staff who used to be clients. For me to be able to say, “This person was a client 18, 15 years ago and has moved to now be a supervisor,” — it blows my mind.

At the Burke Foundation, we focus on supporting families during the first 1000 days from pregnancy through age two — what do you see as the biggest challenge for families during that time period? How do you address that challenge?

Life is very, very complicated and it’s not a textbook play-by-play design. At the end of the day, social determinants of health play a huge role in a family’s ability to make decisions or to follow through or to follow up. And when they have to make those decisions about food insecurity, about housing insecurity, about family issues they need to attend to, in many cases, all of that trumps their own personal relationship with health.

It’s very difficult when sometimes providers or professionals in the field judge a person who isn’t coming to their appointments or isn’t following with their plan. But there are so many things behind the scenes that people really don’t understand. If I have $10 to pay for a taxi to take me to a very far place for a prenatal visit, or $10 to make sure my child has food for the next two days for snacks for school, I’m going to make the judgment of food for my kid, and I may not go and buy my prenatal vitamins. And those are decisions families make every single day. They may be simple for some of us, but very tough for some of them.

And also the way in which we define support. We’re always thinking, “Oh, do you have a support person? Do you have a spouse or a partner or someone you can count on in the home?” And we define families very differently. And sometimes it could be a friend, or someone they’ve met in groups sessions who provides that added support, and they, too, should be educated about what’s needed. Because sometimes the advice they get isn’t always the best. Those first 1,000 days are a lot more complicated that sometimes we want to admit.

What gives you hope in what you are seeing in the early childhood / maternal health space?

People are finally connecting the dots.  They’re realizing that you can’t address early childhood development without addressing trauma and systems of care that need improvement. Government, city officials, community activists and advocates, places of worship, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations are realizing that a healthy mom and a healthy family are the nucleus — however you define family. There’s a continuum of strong, dedicated, effective services to support maternal health  that’s indispensable if we want long-term change. Feel-good programs aren’t enough anymore.  What gives me hope is to see visionaries in the field willing to connect the dots for a strong New Jersey.

What is the secret to a great partnership — either with government, community or individuals?

True collaboration can’t exist without mutual trust, accountability, and a common goal. Great partnerships in government or within the philanthropic community are possible because when people can see the “finish line” together and, if there’s an obstacle along the way, they can move the rock together. I’ve seen great partnerships dissolve because there was no value added but a financial connection or a mandated outcome or deliverable vaguely supported by a Letter of Agreement or a Memorandum of Understanding. Partnerships should last long after the funding is gone because they should be based on collaboration and cooperation for the betterment of our communities. Partnerships that don’t take into account the true needs of the communities they intend to serve or that overlook the individual needs of the partners have a hard time surviving.

Communities are complicated, rich in diversity, and ever changing. Partnerships need to adapt and change along with communities.