Share Our Strength Unveils Groundbreaking Investment of $6.7 Million to Advance Economic Mobility for Single Mothers and Their Children

Initiative to Address Root Causes of Food Insecurity and Financial Instability Through Partnerships with 28 Organizations

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WASHINGTON, March 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Share Our Strength, the organization behind the award-winning No Kid Hungry campaign, has launched a groundbreaking initiative aimed at addressing the root causes of childhood hunger in the United States. Recognizing that it takes more than food to end hunger, Share Our Strength is investing $6.7 million across 28 organizations in 12 states to help families, particularly single mothers with lower incomes and their children, achieve financial security. Through advocacy for policy change and programmatic strategies, partners are working on three high-impact areas: removing barriers to increased incomes and wages, reducing the cost burden of food, and shifting the narrative around single mothers experiencing poverty.

Despite being consistently employed, single mothers and their children face extraordinary levels of food and financial insecurity due to intersecting barriers, including limited access to living wage employment, high costs of basic needs, and social stigmatization. These barriers make it challenging to meet daily needs such as food, childcare and safe housing options, perpetuating a cycle of generational poverty and hunger. Of the nearly 8.5 million single mothers in the U.S., 61% are considered low-income and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the increase in food insecurity in 2022 was most pronounced for households with children headed by single women with 33.1% living with hunger.

"Strong, stable, and secure mothers help raise strong, stable, and secure kids," said Lillian D. Singh, senior vice president, Family Economic Mobility at Share Our Strength. "By supporting single mothers, we aim to break the cycle of poverty and hunger that affects too many families across the country. We're eager to fuel the incredible work of our community partners, and stand ready to convene a national conversation to champion a better future for single mothers raising children."

Because narratives about who is deserving of help shape policy, a key component of this work is also to reframe the national conversation and demystify misconceptions about single mothers experiencing poverty that don't match the reality of this resilient yet vulnerable population. In addition to narrative change, Share Our Strength is locking arms with partners working on high-impact solutions, including leadership and job training, transitional employment, academic support, child care assistance, access to tax benefits like the Child Tax Credit and a root-cause policy agenda. One of the main goals is to promote best practices by organizations like Jeremiah Program, which are among the most successful in leading transformative change for single mothers and their children.

"We deeply believe that when single moms win, our country wins," said Chastity Lord, President and CEO, Jeremiah Program. "At Jeremiah Program we encourage moms to both express gratitude and exercise frustration for bad public policy that feeds generational poverty. Influencing systems change is also their birthright. For over 25 years Jeremiah Program has supported single moms in dreaming big dreams for themselves, their children, and their communities. We thank Share Our Strength for acknowledging the vital role economic mobility plays in eradicating poverty generation by generation, and recognizing the valuable work Jeremiah Program is fulfilling to ensure these women and their children have bright and bountiful futures."

This work is supported by the Albertsons Companies Foundation. As a recipient of the Foundation's Nourishing Neighbors Innovation Spark Grant of $3 million, Share Our Strength will support creative locally tailored solutions for single mothers such as career coaching; stipends for food, housing, and childcare; counseling support; tax services and more.

"We are committed to supporting innovative programs and partnerships helping break the cycle of hunger in the communities we serve," said Christy Duncan Anderson, president and Executive Director for Albertsons Companies Foundation. "We developed these grants so we can support organizations that are at the forefront of creating long-term solutions for moving families and individuals out of food insecurity. As Share Our Strength launches their economic mobility work, we know they will champion this work through their expertise and innovation to bring a far-reaching impact in ending hunger."

Additional funders of Share Our Strength's family economic mobility work include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation.

Lead partner organizations include:

• Black Land Ownership Council (BLOC) (Massachusetts)
• Bonton Farms (Texas)
• CASH Campaign of Maryland (Maryland)
• Children's Health Watch and Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (Massachusetts)
• Foundation Communities (Texas)
• Golden State Opportunity (California)
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) (National)
• Jeremiah Program (National)
• LIFT (National)
• Louisiana Budget Project (Louisiana)
• Maine Equal Justice (Maine)
• Mississippi Economic Inclusion Coalition (Mississippi)
• Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative (MLICCI) (Mississippi)
• MomsF1rst (National)
• National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) (National)
• National Disability Institute (National)
• New Moms (Illinois)
• Policy Matters Ohio (Ohio)
• RAISE Texas (Texas)
• Reuben V Anderson Center for Justice (RVAC) (Mississippi)
• Song Community Development Corporation (SONG CDC) (Louisiana)
• The Children's Defense Fund of OH (Ohio)
• The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis (Virginia)
• The Current Project (National)
• The Middleburg Institute (Louisiana)
• Washington Center for Equitable Growth (National)
• Women's Institute for Science, Equity and Race (WISER) (National)
• Women's Bean Project (Colorado)

About Share Our Strength: At Share Our Strength, we're ending hunger and poverty—in the United States and abroad. Through proven, effective campaigns and programs like No Kid Hungry, we connect people who care to ideas that work.

Media contact: Allison deBrauwere Ruta, [email protected]

SOURCE Share Our Strength