Four community colleges across the country have launched a pilot program to support single mother learners in higher education. Currently, only 28% of single mothers complete a degree or credential within six years of enrolling in college.
Central New Mexico Community College, Delgado Community College, Ivy Tech Community College and Monroe Community College participated in the Single Moms Success Design Challenge with Education Design Lab, which aims to achieve a 30% increase in attainment of degrees and high-quality credentials by single mother learners at each participating school, impacting at least 6,000 single moms by the Summer of 2024.
“To support them in reaching their goals, schools should offer seamless, holistic support models that simultaneously remove barriers related to basic needs, connect them with high-quality affordable childcare, and support them in defining paths through college to family-sustaining careers in growing industries,” states the Lab report.
The human-centered design began at the four institutions located in New Mexico, New Orleans, Indianapolis and Rochester, NY. While hit by COVID-19 in the middle of the design challenge, the institutions report that the pandemic reinforced the importance of the work to help single mothers, who were disproportionately impacted by the loss of low-paying service industry jobs and lack of childcare.
During the program design, teams focused on four phases: understand, ideate, prototype and launch, all with the idea that fulfilling someone’s needs through a sense of belonging and growth will result in higher persistence and satisfaction for learners. Plus, each cohort conducted interviews with more than 100 single mother learners and 70 college faculty and staff.
All four pilots began implementation in the Fall of 2021, targeted for the specific population of the individual schools. For example, Central New Mexico Community College launched the Luna Scholars Program, which connects single mother learners with funding, support and holistic advising via phone, video or in-person. The institution hopes to reach 1,500 single moms with their services and award 40 scholarships.
At Delgado Community College, the Single Moms Success team designed a pilot program that will enable 2,000 single mother learners to make progress in education and careers with the help of financial support. Some of the details include the launch of a single moms’ online community app, asynchronous classes, scholarships and childcare vouchers, and transportation assistance.
The third institution, Ivy Tech, introduced I.PASS, a program to offer wraparound support services, workforce-aligned programming and collaboration with the community. Additional supports to single mothers include a childcare development fund and school-supplied computers for each participant.
Finally, the Single Mothers Network for MCC (Monroe Community College), will assist 954 single mothers with community networks, flexible learning options and a family-friendly culture.
“We used to make students come to campus for orientation, but now we’re offering that virtually for students. In the orientation specifically for parents, we’re highlighting resources, showing video clips so they’re able to hear single moms’ stories from other students, and that’s been well-reviewed so far this year,” stated Kim McKinsey-Mabry, acting vice president of student services at MCC, stated in the report.
After completing the initial research and design, the cohorts came up with five insights into what single mothers need most out of higher education:
- Streamlined support that offers basic needs with career-building opportunities
- A sense of belonging that can be fostered via authentic relationships and inclusive cultures
- Flexible educational experiences aligned with a mother’s goals, priorities and interests
- Use of data infrastructure to identify and chart the paths of learning for a single mother
- Deeper understanding of a single mothers’ learning experiences
“Already our entire community has started paying more attention to our single mother learners and their needs. Our single mother learners feel more comfortable asking their faculty and staff for assistance. Our employees are more aware of the unique needs of our students and how to help them. Our external stakeholders are asking how they can help in making our students more successful. The momentum around this work is incredible,” stated Alisa Wells, Ivy Tech’s director of community engagement and wraparound services.