History

Founded as an independent non-profit organization in 1992, MOMS grew out of a public-private partnership created to help solve a severe prenatal care crisis among low-income women in Orange County in the late 1980s. Our founder, Dottie Andrews, held town forums on the issue that then led to a task force convened by the Orange County Board of Supervisors – and ultimately to Dottie and a group of committed volunteers forming what is now MOMS.

Since that time, MOMS has launched programs and services to increase access to prenatal care, health screenings, infant development screenings, health education and referral services. We currently serve nearly 2,000 low-income families annually and have proudly demonstrated, through rigorous outside evaluation, that our program brings children from a highly disadvantaged population to health and developmental levels that exceed those set by the general population.

As MOMS evolved over the years, so did our identity. We were first known as Maternal Outreach Management System. In 2008, we changed our name to MOMS Orange County and designed a new logo that served us well for 16 years. It included a tagline of “helping families have healthy babies” depicting a thriving family in traditional blue and pink colors. In 2024, with the evolution of time and the expansion of the services we offer, our logo evolves as well. This new logo portrays the heart of our mission by featuring a healthy and happy baby symbolically surrounded by the love and support of family, friends and those in the community that are eagerly ready to help. Our tagline is now “Delivering Bright Futures” reflecting our commitment healthy and bright futures for babies and their villages.

Regardless of name or logo, we remain steadfast in our mission of delivering bright futures by helping mothers, fathers and their families welcome thriving babies through the coordination of health, education and access to critical community services and support.

The purpose of MOMS is to improve the health status of mothers and babies experiencing challenges as a result of living in poverty in Orange County and to help establish a strong foundation for the baby to grow up strong, healthy and ready to learn with a community of support.