The Mom Project Works to Help Get Mothers Back to Work
*By Amanda Weston*
When Allison Robinson first became a mother, she, like may new parents, struggled to balance her full-time career and family. Eventually, she transformed her frustration into "The Mom Project," an online marketplace to pair moms with parent-friendly workplaces.
The Mom Project announced Monday it's joining forces with UrbanSitter to provide mothers with a $75 credit in free babysitting.
"One of the things that we kept hearing from moms who use our platform is that 'gosh, it's really hard to line up childcare in a minute's notice,'" Robinson, the platform's founder and CEO told Cheddar.
"In just simply giving them free childcare to make sure that they can get to that interview, we hope we'll make an impact and give them one less thing to worry about," Robinson said.
The concept has already become a success. The marketplace connects more than 100,000 women with more than 1,000 companies across the country.
The Mom Project also received [$8 million](https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/17/the-mom-project-a-job-site-for-moms-returning-to-work-nabs-8m-from-initialized-and-more/) in Series A funding in December 2018. Robinson believes investors are excited about the company's vision.
"Building a better workplace for women and mothers in the businesses they support," Robinson said. "I think the issue that we're tackling is so personal for so many people, and they're really excited to really make that a reality."
While mothers can face many challenges when they re-acclimate to the workplace Robinson thinks there's hope.
"We're starting to see some good shifts," Robinson said. "I think a lot of companies are offering more generous parental leave policies, and generally just policies that better support navigating work and family. We're also seeing that this is a talent pool that companies are really eager to attract and retain."
"About 43 percent of skilled women in the U.S. leave the workforce after having children, and companies are seeing that this is a highly underutilized talent pool and are starting to create more structures and vehicles for these women to be able to re-enter the workforce successfully."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-mom-project-helps-job-seeking-mothers-get-free-babysitting).
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