Before a single program launched, Kat Whipple spent three years conducting deep research across the Bay Area to assess the real gaps in services for Transitional Age Youth (TAY). Over 100 nonprofits were interviewed. Over 100 TAY parenting youth in the Bay were interviewed directly. It was during this research process that Kat met Allison Stanton — and the two recognized a shared vision for what needed to be built. What the research made clear: this community needed services specifically designed for TAY parents, meaningful young adult workforce development, and trauma-informed support and community — not just referrals to systems that weren't built for them. Hatch was designed from the ground up to meet those gaps.

Kat Whipple and Allison Stanton officially co-found Hatch Community in Oakland, CA — built on three years of research and designed from the start to fill a gap no one else was filling. The mission: disrupt cycles of poverty, nurture parent-child relationships, and transform generations through economic opportunity, birth education, and a community of support built for and by young parents under 25.

Hatch launches its first Birth and Postpartum Doula Training program — a nine-month intensive running from fall 2015 through summer 2016, certifying young parents from within the community as doulas. The model turns lived experience into professional practice, building economic opportunity and a web of peer support at the same time. The community meeting model launches alongside it — free monthly gatherings with expert speakers, dinner, and childcare, with gift card incentives ensuring young parents under 24 can always attend.

Hatch launches its Street Doula program — expanding the village beyond the training room and into the community itself. Street doulas meet young parents where they are: in shelters, on streets, and inside systems. They provide peer education, outreach, and direct connection to resources — linking individuals and families to support and helping them find their way, their voice, and their strength. Community is not just a place you come to. It comes to you.

Little Ones Doulas are unlicensed childcare providers who complete a Hatch Community training that includes American Heart Association CPR and First Aid certification. The training also includes infant and child development education, emotional intelligence building, nervous system regulation, and play-focused behavior management — preparing community members to care for the village's youngest members.

Hatch's first cohort of Birth and Postpartum Doulas completes their nine-month program, deepening the network of trained peer doulas serving young families across Alameda and San Francisco County. Cohort 2 begins their nine-month training. Community meetings continue monthly, covering hospital birth preparation, pregnancy movement, labor interventions, and epidurals — with doulas presenting their own learning to the broader community.

February 2017: Hatch launches its Nurturing Touch Doula certification training — bringing evidence-based therapeutic touch into the village as a tool for bonding, nervous system regulation, and healing. Trained practitioners work one-on-one with new families, laying the foundation for more resilient relationships from the very beginning of life.

In September 2017, Hatch launches its Peer Mentor Training Program — graduates and peers trained to mentor new trainees through the nine-month doula program. Cohort 3 mentors include Bianca, Beatriz, Nicole, Chantal, Alatia, Natalie, and Brittney. This formalized the leadership pipeline: graduates became mentors, mentors became program directors, and the village learned to grow itself.

Hatch celebrates its second anniversary and the graduation of Cohort 2 with the "Legacy of Love" celebration ceremony — a milestone event marking both the growth of the organization and the depth of the community it had built. Financial empowerment programming also deepens through a partnership with Inner City Advisors, bringing business formation and networking education directly to doula trainees.

May 2018: After four months of planning, Hatch's Street Doulas lead a community mural project — painting a mural that portrays Mother Earth as a womb and celebrates the transformation of generations. A Community Baby Shower follows, with local birth workers, midwives, doulas, and families gathering to celebrate community.

Hatch operates at the height of its impact — running all five doula programs simultaneously with an average yearly budget of just $65,000. The organization trains hundreds of community members, serves young families across Alameda County and San Francisco County, and hosts monthly community meetings that extend the village's reach across the Bay Area.

Graduates of Hatch's Birth and Postpartum program go on to: 2 homebirth midwife apprenticeships, 4 Nurse Midwife programs, 2 nursing schools, 11 college completions, and 9 positions at Planned Parenthood, Early Childhood Programs, and social work and medical fields. Many continue working as doulas. All continue supporting families in their lives.

In just four years on an average budget of $65,000 per year from primarily youth development funders, Hatch trained 122 doulas across all five programs and served over 270 young families through Birth and Postpartum doulas. The ripple extended to 500+ more young people and professionals through support, education, outreach, and trainings.

Unable to secure the funding and partnerships needed for long-term sustainability, Hatch announces it will close. The community rallies to close with grace — paying peer doulas through the end of the year and honoring final programming. The values that defined everything remain: radical inclusivity, honesty, self-love, healing, reciprocal growth, and resiliency.

Hatch officially closes in 2020. The community is devastated. But the 122 doulas Hatch trained keep working. The relationships built in the village hold. Shayanna, alongside other Hatch graduates and mentors, continues actively providing doula services — collaborating as a network to serve families referred directly by Kat and Hatch contracts after closing. The village doesn't dissolve. It reorganizes.