NPN Year-in-Review: A Look Back at 2024 and What's Ahead

Here's a look at NPN’s year-in-review as well as our plans for 2025!

Childcare Support:

• Members posted nearly 300 childcare listings in our Childcare Classifieds.
• Our Summer Camp Directory grew to 28 camps for parents to consider, many offering discounts to NPN members.
• We partnered on The Ultimate Baby Shower, offering new and expecting parents resources and education on childcare and more.

School Research:

• Local educational experts partnered with us to bring seven education sessions to families
• We updated our School & Daycare Directory, connecting families with current information on more than 1,100 schools
• With the help of our sponsors, the Preschool & Elementary School Fair was held in September at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum with 47 exhibiting schools, two sessions on Chicago Public Schools, and more
• Building our relationships with south side families, we participated in the South Side Early Childhood and Grade School Fair in October

Developmental Differences:

• We worked with local experts on two parent education sessions on executive functioning in middle school and clinical assessments
• Our Developmental Differences Parent Support Group, met twelve times, thanks to our volunteers Kandalyn, Beth, and Sarah
• Providers updated their information in our Developmental Differences Resource Directory (includes 150 providers)
• With the help of our advisory committee, we hosted the Developmental Differences Resource Fair in September, featuring over 30 exhibitors and a panel discussion with individuals thriving with developmental differences
• NPN staff contributed to the planning and success of the Every Child Ready Chicago Strengthening Inclusion Symposium in December at Malcolm X College

Parent-to-Parent Support:

• Partnering with local schools, we organized 9 preschool playdates and launched Screenless Saturdays for older children and families
• Members created 1,650 threads in our discussion forum and contributed to our newsletter, Parent to Parent which was mailed to members in March
• With the goal of supporting more families in a bigger way, we launched the Chicago Style Parenting podcast, offering expert insights on parenting topics
• To benefit our members, we continue to build the Member Discount Directory. Forty-six discounts are currently available with more to come
• We shared our resources with families at Bubblespalooza in September

Looking forward to 2025

Next year, we’ll expand our partnerships and programming to bring families more playdates, educational sessions, and podcast episodes while building our online resources and directories. We're excited to introduce a new kids' classes directory and continue our partnerships with community organizations. We will bring in new donations to our online auction coming up in March, and we are excited to be working with a grant writer with the hope of opening up new funding streams to support our work.

How you can help.

NPN is a nonprofit, and we need your support. Our goal is to raise $32,000 this year to continue offering these vital resources. Meeting this financial goal is critical. Should we miss this goal, NPN will not survive. Please consider donating $50 today. You can donate by clicking here.

Click here for NPN’s IRS Exemption Letter.

Thank you for being a part of NPN! Your membership keeps NPN vibrant and your donation will keep NPN going strong in 2025.