Step By Step, Inc

Step By Step is a holistic nonprofit empowering young single mothers ages 12–24 in Lexington and the surrounding community to build stronger lives, families, and futures through healing, encouragement, faith, and education. Founded in 1995 by three best friends who wanted to make a lasting impact on child abuse and neglect in their community, Step By Step was created as a place where young mothers could find support without judgment, build meaningful relationships, learn practical life skills, and discover their own potential. More than 30 years later, that vision continues as we walk alongside moms through both challenges and celebrations, equipping them with the tools, relationships, and support they need to create lasting change for themselves and their children.

Our Mission

We’re here to empower and embolden young single mothers to improve their lives, their families, and their communities through healing, encouragement, faith and education.

Our Vision 

We envision a Lexington that fosters belonging and empowers young, single mothers to positively impact their families and communities.

Programming

Step by Step seeks to provide holistic support through a broad range of wrap around services including:

• Revive - These weekly meetings are focused on community with transportation, Revive Kids children's programming, and a hot meal provided. Moms can meet other moms going through the same kinds of things, make friends and bring their kids.
• C.A.R.E. (Connections, Affirmations, Resources, Empowerment) - Program staff connect with moms on a weekly basis providing on-going support through resource referrals, connection, and continued encouragement.
• Crisis Care - Financial assistance to provide tangible support to a SBS family in a crisis when community resources are unavailable in order to avoid catastrophic consequences. This is not benevolence or a hand-out. This is a stop gap with wrap around services to help families move towards long-term stability.  
• Mom's Pantry - Monthly moms can request much needed items from the pantry including diapers and wipes, hygiene and cleaning products, as well as gas cards and bus passes.
• Dare to Dream - Moms meet with program staff to set goals and receive support to help them reach them.
• Level Up - Short term workshops where moms receive extended training in life skills in areas such as financial literacy and parenting.
• Echo & Resound Leadership - Once a mom has completed the 3-year program, they can join the leadership training program and lead other moms in Step By Step!

Who We Are

For more than 30 years, Step By Step has walked alongside young single mothers and their children in Lexington, Kentucky, helping them build lives marked by stability, purpose, and hope.

We believe young mothers are not problems to be solved. They are women with dreams, strengths, gifts, and incredible potential. When they have supportive relationships, practical resources, opportunities to grow, and a community that believes in them, they can overcome barriers and create lasting change for themselves and their children.

Each year, we serve more than 300 moms and children through a holistic, trauma-informed approach. Our work is deeply relational. We don't simply connect moms to a resource and send them on their way. We show up. We listen. We celebrate. We walk through the hard stuff. And we keep walking.

Through weekly Revive gatherings, moms find community, encouragement, and practical support. Revive Kids provides a safe, nurturing place for their children to learn and grow. Through Dare to Dream, moms set meaningful SMART goals and take tangible steps toward achieving them. Step Into Freedom equips moms with financial skills and opportunities to build savings. Crisis Care helps families navigate unexpected emergencies that threaten their stability. And through Echo & Resound, moms who have grown through Step By Step become leaders who encourage and empower others.

Our impact isn't just about numbers. It's the mom who goes back to school. The mom who finds stable housing. The mom who builds savings for the first time. The mom who makes a plan for her future and realizes she is capable of achieving it. It's the mom who once needed support who eventually becomes a leader for someone else.

When you invest in a mom, you invest in an entire family. And when you invest in families, you strengthen our entire community.

Give 8/28 is an opportunity to make that investment.

Your generosity helps Step By Step continue walking alongside young mothers as they build stronger families, discover their God-given potential, and take their next step toward a brighter future.

Together, we can help moms take the next step—and create change that lasts for generations.