Breaking Barriers, Building Women: Economic Empowerment Program

For nearly four decades, 9to5 has been organizing women in Georgia to fight for economic justice by improving conditions in the workplace. 9to5 Georgia is a chapter of 9to5, one of the largest national membership organizations of working women in the U.S. dedicated to putting working women’s issues on the public agenda. As a grassroots, member-led organization, 9to5 members are directly affected by the policy issues they work on every day: low-wage jobs, the erosion of a social safety net, difficulties in balancing work and family needs, inequities in part-time and temp work, unemployment, and workplace discrimination. 9to5 programs and campaigns provide a vehicle through which marginalized women work together to take action and win policy change.

Funding for 9to5 supports the Community Justice Fellowship Program (CJFP). The program provides a 12-week, stipend-supported ($15/hour), on-the-job organizer training program for directly-affected women leaders. CJFP trains active, grassroots members to build their base through outreach and recruitment; to engage in grassroots organizing; to develop and execute campaign strategies; to develop effective messaging and gain media skills for issue campaigns; and to engage in policy level advocacy to advance economic justice for women. With funding, 9to5 will have the resources to expand the program in metro Atlanta. https://9to5.org/chapter/georgia/

Atlanta Habitat’s mission is to transform communities by acting as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization through education, innovative development, partnerships, and long-term relationships.

Atlanta Habitat received funding for its My Money. My Future. (MMMF) program, which launched two years ago with funding from AWF. MMMF supports low-income women in achieving sustainable social mobility and building financial legacies through first-time homeownership readiness.

The program addresses the most powerful barriers low-income women face:

• Insufficient household wealth for down payment and closing costs,
• Inaccessible or poor credit,
• Inadequate knowledge of buying and sustaining a home, and
• Lack of confidence to pursue opportunities to improve financial, professional, and personal well-being.

While the goal of MMMF is primarily to eliminate these deficiencies, the program also includes education, coaching, and mentoring to provide opportunities for low-income women to develop and pursue professional goals. By virtue of MMMF’s successful outcomes, Atlanta Habitat has also helped create a “homeownership ready” pipeline for other low-income non-profit developers who are seeking to provide affordable housing options to women and families in need. https://www.atlantahabitat.org/

Buckhead Christian Ministry's (BCM) mission is to provide client-centered financial assistance and financial literacy programs that lead to self-sufficiency. Their vision is a community free of hunger and homelessness.

Funding supports BCM’s Budget For Life program. The program helps financially vulnerable families learn to budget, pay down debilitating debt, and establish habits that lead to financial security. The intense, six-month program that works with participants to lower their debt, increase their credit score, manage their expenses, and begin to increase their income. Budget for Life serves low-income women who need long-term support to become financially stable, providing graduated rent and utility assistance for six months, coupled with in-depth case management, and financial literacy and money management coaching. https://buckheadchristianministry.org/

The Clayton State University Foundation exists to support the institutional needs and priorities of Clayton State University. Funding supports the BOOST Program, in partnership with Quality Care for Children, which provides child care subsidies for low-income, Pell eligible student parents attending Clayton State University who are parenting a child four years of age and younger. This initiative is uniquely well suited to meet the relatively large number of student parents at Clayton State University, the majority of whom are single mothers. This initiative is in line with the State of Georgia’s participation in the National Governor’s Association and the Center for Law and Social Policy’s Parents and Children Thriving Together (PACTT): Two-Generation State Policy Network. https://www.clayton.edu/foundation/index

Gwinnett Tech Foundation was created to support and enhance higher education at Gwinnett Technical College. Funding supports women with children through the Office of Special Populations. Single female parents face many obstacles in obtaining and achieving a post-secondary degree. Assisting single female parents with options to help eliminate obstacles will provide them with improved employment options, reduce their poverty rate, and improve their family environment and sustainability. The grant will support: tuition/fees; books/supplies; housing assistance; childcare; transportation, and food. http://www.gwinnetttech.edu/foundation/

H.O.P.E, Inc. serves low-income single parents working to achieve their college degree. Funding supports H.O.P.E Inc.’s Mildred Dowdley Gift of HOPE (MDGH) program. The goal of the MDGH program is to increase the number of single parent students who obtain their college degrees.

Low-income single parents are often unprepared for unexpected emergencies and are one paycheck away from not being able to meet childcare and/or housing needs. MDGH’s support services work to minimize these and other barriers by providing these services:

• Rent and/or childcare assistance up to $400 a month to help raise monthly income
• Access to community resources and emergency assistance to help reduce barriers
• Financial training and a personal budget coach to help with gaining healthy money management skills, with topics including budgeting, emergency savings, investing, reducing debt, etc.
• Access to other areas of training including personal and life skills courses that help individuals improve
• resume and interview skills, job search skills, work life balance skills, etc.
• Access to counseling and coaching to provide consistent emotional support and encouragement

https://hopbe.org/

Literacy Action’s mission is to build better futures for undereducated adults by teaching literacy, life and work skills that empower them to reach their highest potential. Funding supports Literacy Action’s first all-female Work Readiness Program, which launched in fall 2018.

The Work Readiness program is a fifteen-week program designed for unemployed, underemployed, or low-income women who are seeking job advancement. The program builds on participants’ other Literacy Action coursework to focus on reading comprehension and mathematics skills specific to a work environment.

Students also receive training in the “soft skills” necessary to navigate a working environment, such as professional image, effective communication, collaboration, conflict resolution, customer service, strategic thinking, and time management.

Participants completing this program will create a digital portfolio complete with a resume, cover letter, and references, and will have access to opportunities including one-to-one career counseling, mock interviews, a Dress for Success workshop, and a Literacy Action job fair. https://literacyaction.org/

The mission of Nicholas House is to help homeless families achieve self-sufficiency by providing a temporary place to live while identifying and addressing the root causes of a family’s homelessness so they may never become homeless again. Nicholas House is committed to helping families attain three goals:

• Earn a living wage,
• Maintain physical, mental, and social health of parents and children, and
• Maintain their own safe and stable housing long-term.

This grant supports the staff position of Income/Employment Navigator, who helps to resolve an identified stumbling block for mothers – the inability to find meaningful employment with growth potential. The position provides individualized coaching to determine skills/goals, establish benefit income streams and help the parent in a search for an employment pathway that provides for meaningful income growth in the future, not just find a current low paying job. https://nicholashouse.org/