Connecting Mothers Initiative • 2025–present01
Project overview
Connecting Mothers Initiative is a nonprofit that helps military mothers and caregivers find stability through every move. One in three military families relocates each year, and every move means rebuilding a support system from scratch: new doctors, childcare, benefits, community.
I lead UX and product design for the Resource Hub inside CMI The Circle, the organization’s app: a vetted directory of services, articles and community, built so a mother new to a base can find what she needs and trust it. I work with our founder, Director of UX and Product Manager, and mentor a UX intern.
- 2.6M+Military family members
- 1 in 3Families relocate every year
- 59%Of military families report loneliness
Source: Connecting Mothers Initiative
02
Problem & goal
Problem
Military mothers and caregivers struggle to find trusted, relevant parenting resources. Information is scattered, overwhelming and rarely verified, which leaves them stressed and slow to decide, often mid-move.
Goal
Design one trusted place where they can find verified information, nearby services and community, filtered to their needs and clear about what to do next.
Ten supporting problems and ten user goals came down to four themes. Each one names what’s broken today and what the hub had to do about it.
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Trust
BrokenCan’t tell which sources are reliable; advice conflicts.
Designed forVerified, organized content; reviews to compare options.
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Scattered
BrokenNo central place; information and services live apart.
Designed forOne hub connecting information, services and events.
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Overload & time
BrokenToo many options, little time, unclear next steps.
Designed forFilters, clear guides, save for later.
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Isolated
BrokenNot tailored to life stage; far from family.
Designed forPersonal results, mothers’ stories, local events.
03
Research
Interviews
Five semi-structured interviews, one hour each on Zoom, with mothers aged 24–47 raising one to four children. The research ran before CMI narrowed its focus to military families, so participants were mothers and caregivers in general.
We coded every transcript in 
ATLAS.tiQualitative data analysis software, used to code all five interviewsatlasti.com with a shared codebook: 14 codes, each with a definition and “when to use / when not to use” rules, applied to 329 quotations. Trust came up far more than anything else.
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Finding 01
Trust comes from lived experience
Parents trust other parents first, then check with doctors or research.
“I would take the advice more from someone who I have known has gone through it.”P2
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Finding 02
The village is friends when family is far
Without family nearby, friends become the support system.
“Our village is … everyone close to us, especially within proximity.”P2
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Finding 03
Clear structure signals credibility
Content sorted by topic and child’s stage feels trustworthy; clutter doesn’t.
“It should be not very overwhelming … with a well-structured menu.”P4
Competitive analysis
We compared four organizations serving families. Each one owns a single need from the interviews, and none of them connects the four. That gap is where the Resource Hub sits.
GeneralBuilt for mothers
March of Dimes
The Motherhood Project
Zocdoc
Findhelp
CMI Resource HubWhere we want to be
One needInfo + services + community
- FindhelpServices directory, but clinical, with no stories or community.
- ZocdocFast and convenient, but healthcare booking only.
- March of DimesTrusted expert content, but education rather than local services.
- The Motherhood ProjectCommunity events, with little information or services.
04
Persona
The interviews produced four personas. When CMI narrowed to military families in May 2026, I rewrote our main persona, Lisa, as a military spouse. Her needs barely changed; they just got sharper.
Lisa Wu
Military spouse · Supply chain analyst
- Age
- 32
- Home
- San Diego, new after a PCS move
- Kids
- 2, both under 3
“Every move I start from zero. I need to know what I’m finding is real.”
Needs
- Trusted care and childcare, fast
- Proof a resource is legitimate
- Other military moms nearby
Frustrations
- Information scattered everywhere
- Can’t tell what’s verified
- No family nearby, little time
05
Flows & structure
Every flow hinged on the same two questions, and our own walkthroughs showed users slowing down at the first one. So the design answers both on the results page, before Lisa has to open anything.
Information architecture
Two sections and a profile, four levels deep. The six resource categories were defined with our founder after the pivot and are still evolving as we add real military resources.
Content
- Articles
- Guides
- Article & guide detail
Services
- Medical
- Mental Health
- Childcare
- Financial Aid
- Food & Nutrition
- Nonprofit
- Resource detail
Profile
- Saved items
- Ratings
- Recently viewed
- Preferences
06
High-fidelity design: following Lisa
Lisa is new to San Diego and running the household largely on her own. She does everything from her phone, in a place she doesn’t know yet, so what matters most is trust. She can’t waste time, and she needs to know what she finds is reliable. We follow her through three flows.
Flow 1
Find a trusted service
- 01
Local from the first tap
Search is pre-set to Lisa’s ZIP code, with bookmarks and nearby events right on the home screen.
- 02
Judge relevance without opening anything
Every result shows category, CMI score, cost, distance, rating and a verified check.
- 03
Trust, explained
The CMI Certified badge and CMI Meter each open a short note on what was verified and when.
- 04
One tap to act
Call, Email, Website and Directions sit above the fold, and reviews come from other military families.
Flow 2
Find a trusted article
- 01
Articles beside services
Tabs for Services, Articles and Guides keep information and services in one search.
- 02
Key takeaways first
Each article opens with a short summary, so Lisa gets the answer in a five-minute break.
- 03
Save for later
Bookmark from the article and it waits on the home screen when the kids are asleep.
Flow 3
Leave a review
- 01
A nudge at the right time
After Lisa’s visit, a notification invites her back to share how it went.
- 02
A light review sheet
Stars, a title and a few lines, written for the next military family.
- 03
Closing the loop
Today’s user becomes the next family’s trusted source, the lived experience participants asked for.
07
Leading design
- 01
Mentoring
Guided our UX intern through synthesis, use cases, flows and hi-fi, and made the call on design decisions along the way.
- 02
Design reviews
Ran regular reviews with our Director of UX and working sessions with the founder, where the military categories took shape.
- 03
Design system
Co-built CMI’s design system with the Director of UX before the pivot, and now rebuilding it for the military focus and for AI-assisted design tools.
08
Outcome & learnings
Done
Presented to the whole organization
All three flows, with strong feedback across teams.
Now
Rebuilding the design system
Renewing the system the Director of UX and I built, for the military focus and AI design tools.
Up next
CMI’s board
The hub goes to the board for the next stage.
Then
Real military resources
Specializing the hub with real military resources and refining it for launch.
Learnings
AI as a design multiplier
Working with Claude Code through the Figma MCP sped up the hi-fi enough to prototype three full flows instead of one, and those flows drew the strongest feedback.
Research that survives a pivot
Trust, overload and a village far from family held for military families. They just hit harder when you move every two to three years.