How one non-profit is helping single moms disrupt the cycle of poverty
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It’s no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic has hit millions of mothers hard.
The desire to balance work in the face of constant insecurity for parents has frustrated many mothers in the third year of the pandemic.
According to Chastity Lord, she is the CEO of a non-profit organization that helps single mothers and their children overcome poverty.
“Many of our mothers know that the system did not work before the pandemic,” Lord said.
“The system didn’t stop working for middle and middle classes who couldn’t spend money, and it became a national dialogue,” he said.
This dilemma explains the “poverty tax” that many unmarried women face, which jeopardizes their job stability and their chances of earning a degree.
“Unmarried mothers with young children are important,” God said. "They represent a very large group in our country and the disproportionate number of unmarried mothers is at or below the poverty line."
The Jeremiah Program works to break the cycle of single-mother poverty in nine U.S. cities.
The list includes more than 1,500 marriaged mothers and their children in Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Brooklyn, New York; Boston; Fargo, North Dakota; Las Vegas; Rochester, Minnesota and Minneapolis-Saint Paul.
Founded 24 years ago, the organization has helped more than 4,000 mothers and their children marry.
The Jeremiah program aims to help women enter and graduate from college. To help achieve this, they have access to education on issues such as personal training, childcare and early childhood education, safe and affordable housing and financial education, positive parenting and mental health.
According to the Lord, the typical mother of the program is about 27 years old, has one or two children and is looking for a way to start again.
All participants are enrolled in the school, which is a prerequisite. More than 80% are people of color, including 50% blacks and 25% Hispanics.
The program, which is largely privately funded, finds candidates through media ads and working with community organizations.
The program begins with a 12-week empowerment and leadership training course in which participants develop a plan for what they want to achieve in their lives.
“Creating a space like this for this kind of activity and this kind of dream is truly amazing for the first time for many of our mothers,” Lord said.
Andromeda Vega, 26, was studying nursing and trying to balance her life as a young mother when she heard about the Jeremiah program.
More than official investors:
He moved to the program campus in Austin, Texas in August 2019.
Her participation in Jeremiah's program helped her return to her studies in 2018 after the birth of her three-year-old daughter.
By the time Vega retires in 2025, he hopes to fill three titles. These include a bachelor's degree in health sciences, a bachelor's degree in nursing, a bachelor's degree in nursing, a bachelor's degree in December, and a bachelor's degree in nursing.
In addition, the program has given stability to her daughter, who goes to a child development center in the same building where they live. School staff work with Vega to improve parenting skills, and other mothers in the building have created a community to help each other.
Among other things, Vega helped her daughter out of school when she couldn't because she had a 12-hour clinical day in the hospital.
If Vega had not followed Jeremiah's program, he would not have been able to make almost the same academic progress. According to him, he may still be in a toxic relationship and will struggle to complete it.
Enrolling in the program has helped him take a step back and re-evaluate his life, which he hopes will have long-term effects even after he leaves.
“Now I have different perspectives and standards about what I want and can live without in my life, and what I want for my child and what I want for myself,” Vega said.
In addition, for each semester she completes, the program contributes $ 100 to her daughter’s 529 college savings plans.
“He’s three years old and has a college savings account,” Vega said. "To say it was a big job, because my mother didn't even have a growing savings account."