These are three of the biggest obstacles young at-risk mothers face in Greater Akron
Sometimes, a person simply needs to jump on board a train bound for their own success.
That same sentiment is shared by Jump On Board for Success (JOBS), a nonprofit organization in Akron's Kenmore neighborhood that provides young and at-risk mothers with job skills training and mentorship to help them achieve career-focused employment and self-sufficiency.
Program participants can choose from hands-on courses in culinary arts, early childhood education, business administration, entrepreneurialism and information technology.
JOBS Executive Director Jennifer Herrick has spent the last seven years assisting dozens of young at-risk mothers in Greater Akron. By teaching technical skills, Herrick and her team help those often struggling to survive on government assistance achieve stable employment. It is this level of experience that offers Herrick a unique perspective into the problems plaguing many mothers in the region.
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Here are what Herrick says are three of the biggest challenges facing Akron's working poor:
Transportation needs
“They don’t have reliable transportation to get to a job or get kids where they need to go. Bus routes are hard when moving car seats, strollers, etc., and especially to multiple locations. If they have a car, it is usually an older, unreliable car needing repairs. They don’t have the funds for the repairs, or the insurance. And now, gas is so high, just another obstacle. Friends are unreliable when it comes to an everyday drop-off and pickup from work, and again, gas. Who wants to drive someone else around at $5 a gallon?”
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Access to child care
“First, it goes back to transportation. They can’t get the kids where they need to go because they can’t get there! And if kids are different ages, they go to different places. And government assisted child care doesn’t kick in immediately when they start a job. Thus, they have to find someone dependable who can watch them for a few weeks until Title 20 (child care assistance) begins. If they are using home sitters, people aren’t reliable. And, as we have seen over and over, they tend to fall back on the guys in their lives as emergency child care, and that doesn’t always end well.”
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Downfalls of the welfare system
“If they can get a job, they have to continually calculate how it affects their benefits. By the time they factor in cash assistance, WIC (nutrition support for Women, Infants and Children), SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), housing, utility assistance and medical insurance, they need to have a pretty good job with decent benefits. Most entry jobs can’t provide that same amount of money that matches the assistance. Thus, the welfare cliff: They start a job, work hard and move up, but their benefits drop out before they have achieved the same amount in real earnings. Generationally, those who have experienced it already aren’t always an encouragement to those trying to break the cycle.”
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Contact Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans at tbeans@gannett.com and on Twitter @TawneyBeans.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How Jen Herrick, JOBS program help at-risk moms in Greater Akron
