Priscilla Miramontes is offered a spoonful of an imaginary breakfast by her 16-month-old son, Nicholas, in their Common Unity apartment. In addition to a home, the program provided Miramontes with training in being a parent and getting along in life. For example, she now knows how important it is to talk to and interact with a young child.

James Gregg / Arizona Daily Star

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Priscilla Miramontes was in the last trimester of her pregnancy and living with an abusive partner when she became homeless.

She drifted from place to place, she said, and often slept on friends' couches and floors. But then a counselor told her about Our Family Services' Common Unity Program.

"At the time, I wasn't speaking with my mom because of his father," she said, nodding toward her 16-month-old son, Nicholas Johnson, as she carried him on her hip.

As part of the Common Unity Program, Miramontes, 21, moved into a small apartment about a month before her son was born.

She now holds a job and is paying for her own housing. The rent for the tidy one-bedroom apartment is cheap — only $150 a month — as part of the program, which exists to help young mothers such as Miramontes become independent.

In honor of Miramontes and 23 other women living as her neighbors, Our Family Services will hold its Community Baby Shower on Sunday.

The event will run from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Hilton Tucson East, 7600 E. Broadway. Admission is one $50 ticket, a baby gift and a package of diapers.

Our Family Services provides counseling, services for the homeless and education for people of all ages.

Last year more than 29,000 people used the organization's services, which also include housing, mediation and help for people in crisis.

The Common Unity shower will include lunch, a short video presentation, a silent auction and a fashion show. All proceeds will go toward the Common Unity Program.

Common Unity is an unmarked 24-unit supervised apartment complex in central Tucson where pregnant women and single parents live with their children.

Residents, who must be 18 to 21 years old when they enter the program, can stay up to two years. They're required to hold a job, pay a small amount of rent and learn how to be good parents, as well as good neighbors and employees.

Mandatory life-skills classes are given each week on topics such as parenting, nutrition, financial management and budgeting. Each young parent has an individual case manager to help the resident set goals and accomplish them.

Miramontes said the classes have been especially helpful.

"I'd baby-sat before, but I never knew a lot about babies," she said. One visiting doctor explained the importance of talking to an infant, even though the baby can't talk back — and that's something Miramontes now does regularly.

Living at the apartment complex and befriending other young mothers made her feel a lot less alone, she said.

"There was support when I came home — a lot of support," she said about her Common Unity neighbors. "It was a way for me to be independent while having a kid and being young."

Miramontes said she also was very grateful for the advice she received on breast-feeding.

Being tired and alone with a hungry infant can be stressful, she said, and the support of a woman from the program one long night really helped.

"I calmed down, and he was able to latch on," she said of her son and the breast-feeding challenges they faced.

Miramontes said she also has learned a lot about perseverance.

"I don't give up easily now, whereas before it was like, 'Whatever,' " she said. "I know now that there's someone who relies on me, who needs me, and it means a lot. That's my little man."

Lana Baldwin, development director with Our Family Services, said this is the second time the organization has held a shower.

The women at Common Unity have been homeless or living in "very dire living situations," Baldwin said.

"They'd lost the support of their family or were living in really dysfunctional living situations," she said. "There was no celebration for them and no one to share in the joy of having a child."

Baldwin said that in addition to celebrating the births of babies, the shower aims to "reinforce to the young women in our programs that they are doing the right things."

"They really are the guests of honor for this event," she said. "It's to recognize the good choices that they are making for themselves and their community."