ECMC Foundation Grant Will Support 'SingleMothers: WorkingForward' - WorkingNation Documentaries on the Challenges of Single Moms

LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WorkingNation, a nonprofit that reports on the future of work, announced today in advance of Mother's Day that it has received a $200,000 grant from ECMC Foundation to help fund "SingleMothers: WorkingForward," documentaries that will highlight how community colleges help single moms overcome adversity.

"ECMC Foundation is proud to support this important work to uplift stories of single mother students and elevate the role that community colleges play in ensuring they attain the associate degrees that will position them for high-wage, in-demand, middle-skill jobs or further education," says Rosario Torres, program officer, career readiness for ECMC Foundation. "Ensuring that single mothers realize their educational dreams and obtain access to high-quality, family-sustaining jobs will benefit all of us and promote the future health and well-being of generations to come."

"SingleMothers: WorkingForward" will consist of short documentaries and an article on campus stories of students, faculty, staff or partners driving solutions for single moms. It will raise awareness of challenges single moms face in juggling parenting, school and work, and identify the solutions schools deploy to improve the moms' graduation rates.

"WorkingNation believes that bringing the stories of real people, in their own words, to public attention encourages action," says Melissa Panzer, WorkingNation's executive producer of video content development and production. "Hearing how individual colleges improved graduation rates for this important population will encourage other institutions to rethink their own support systems and adopt some of the program ideas."

About 15 million U.S. children live with a single mother, and female-householder families have a 27% poverty rate, according to Pew Research Center and the U.S. Census Bureau respectively. Education could be a way to break that cycle of poverty. In fact, 1.7 million single mothers were enrolled in college in 2015-2016, with the largest share in community colleges, according to the Institute for Women's Policy, but only 28% of single mothers enrolled in 2003-2009 earned a certificate or degree six years later.

"SingleMothers: WorkingForward" is envisioned as part of "WorkingForward: The Future of Work," mini-documentary packages exploring overlooked populations and solutions that led them to quality jobs.

About WorkingNation

WorkingNation is a nonprofit journalism organization telling stories about the future of work and solutions to the jobs skills gap disrupting our economy.

About ECMC Foundation

ECMC Foundation is a Los Angeles-based, nationally focused foundation with a mission to inspire and to facilitate improvements that affect educational outcomes — especially among underserved populations — through evidence-based innovation. It is one of several affiliates under the ECMC Group (www.ecmcgroup.org) enterprise based in Minneapolis. ECMC Foundation makes investments in two focus areas: college success and career readiness; and uses a spectrum of funding structures, including strategic grantmaking and program-related investments, to invest in both nonprofit and for-profit ventures. Working with grantees, partners and peers, ECMC Foundation's vision is for all learners to unlock their fullest potential.

WorkingNation Media Contact:

Steve Delsohn
[email protected]
805-358-3318

SOURCE WorkingNation