A snapshot of one of Her PLAN’s first and most successful Her Communities.
In Nebraska, Her PLAN has launched two Her Communities in neighboring Dodge and Washington Counties, situated to the northwest of Omaha. In just a few short months, local churches and organizations mobilized to strengthen and build the pro-life safety net they wanted to see present in their own community.
Her Communities are coalitions of public officials, churches, charities, businesses and individuals that assess the adequacy of their local pro-life safety net and identify opportunities to expand or launch resources that address unmet needs. This work leads to establishing new resources or growth of under-resourced, high-demand programs in the community.
In the initial stages, Her PLAN partners with community members to evaluate what resources are needed in the area based on Her PLAN’s 7 Categories of Care. Each category addresses specific needs that often lead to abortion, such as lack of financial or emotional support, lack of housing, affordable childcare, or reliable transportation, and more.
In 2025, Her PLAN worked with focus groups of abortion-vulnerable mothers who chose life and identified four specific categories that pose the greatest threat to a mother’s ability to choose life and are the most difficult needs to address nationwide: housing, transportation, childcare, and mental health. Together, local community leaders and Her PLAN directly addressed three of these four major needs in early work completed in both Dodge and Washington Counties with work continuing today.
Housing
St. John’s Lutheran Church and Guiding Grace Family Support network united to open a small maternity home on the church property in Washington County. The home – formerly the pastor’s residence – sat unused for over a year and was in excellent condition. Through this collaboration, the home was restored and repurposed into a safe, life-affirming refuge for pregnant women facing significant barriers to choosing life, such as homelessness, financial difficulty, job loss, or unsafe housing.
Members of Freemont Free Evangelical Church welcome the first family into the newly opened maternity home on church property.
Transportation
Transportation is a large unmet need nationally. At the community level, the area may be more rural and lack public transportation. Pregnant women may have to travel over an hour out of the locality to receive quality medical care. At the individual level, a mother may lack a driver’s license, a personal vehicle, or be unable to keep up with costly repairs to maintain her own car. If she doesn’t have reliable transportation to work or school, she likely isn’t able to travel to receive needed prenatal medical care.
Community Car Care Days are one way the community has stepped up to address – and meet – this need. Freemont Evangelical Free Church in Dodge County partnered with Her PLAN to host these events four times a year as a regular service. At each one, attendees received free oil changes and minor fixes needed for their vehicles. At the start, an average of 55 women were served each day, but that number is expected to increase as the event grows and word spreads throughout the community. While Community Car Care Days focus on addressing transportation needs, they also serve as a venue to connect families to more resources, such as healthcare providers, pregnancy centers and material supplies from local organizations.
Volunteers of local mechanics service cars at a Car Maintenance Day in the Washington and Dodge Her Communities.
Mental Health
Addressing inadequate or costly mental health resources promotes generational change for abortion-vulnerable mothers and their families. Unbridled Acres is a refuge in Nebraska that offers equine therapy to individuals who face complex trauma and needs. After hearing from Her PLAN, Unbridled Acres committed to offering free services to single mothers and women facing unexpected pregnancies who received referrals from their pregnancy center. The women who participated in this therapy were overwhelmed with gratitude and hopeful to move forward in their complex healing journeys.
Medical Care
When a local pregnancy center lacked a medical director, Her PLAN recruited Dr. Brendan Connealy, one of Nebraska’s leading prenatal diagnosis doctors, to step into that role.
A different pregnancy center desperately needed help communicating with their growing Spanish-speaking population. To ensure all moms can access the care they need, Her PLAN helped the center recruit interpreters and volunteers through a local church. To meet the influx of needs, the center moved to a larger location and was able to provide additional medical services.
Financial Education
60 percent of women who’ve had abortions said they would have chosen life had they received more emotional, financial or material support. Providing financial literacy education is a vital way to empower vulnerable moms to take control of their finances and work towards financial independence. Freemont Evangelical Free Church in Dodge County wanted to launch a financial literacy program for single parents, pregnant mothers and parents below the poverty line. Her PLAN provided them with a pro-life financial education program created in conjunction with Creighton University. The church continues to host the program quarterly for the community.
Become a part of the pro-life safety net in your community. View the resources available in your area on Her PLAN’s directory. Contact us to get involved in your own community and help empower mothers and babies with the support they need to thrive.
