(bright chime) (upbeat music) - Hello, I'm Kathleen Bade.

Welcome to this episode of "Working Forward," where we're shedding light on real world workforce obstacles and opportunities to spark awareness and potential solutions.

Single mothers pursuing higher education represent a determined but overlooked segment of the student population.

In Arizona, a little over 65,000 students are single mothers striving to build better futures for themselves and their families.

Despite their resilience, single mothers face significant obstacles, limited financial resources, and a lack of childcare.

Their journeys reflect personal ambition and a deep commitment to in the stereotypical cycles and creating lasting change.

In the "Working Nation" film we're featuring, the short documentary "Unstoppable," exploring how colleges are redefining the education landscape for single mothers.

Let's watch.

- This is like when she first came out and the doctor placed her on my chest.

(gentle music) I graduated early from high school, and I ended up at college.

And after my first semester on campus, I was only 16.

I ended up getting pregnant, and that was devastation across the board for my family.

My mom, she was not on board, right?

It's like, "You're ruining your life."

People felt emboldened to remind me that I had done an awful thing.

Like, "This is not something for you to be proud of.

Have you thought about putting her up for adoption?"

I don't have pictures of myself pregnant because that's not something we ever want to acknowledge.

I still carry that shame.

But I think the conversations that I was having at that moment with myself were like, "Now more than ever, you have to go to college if you want to be able to take care of yourself and your child."

(gentle music) - Community college was not built for parenting students.

It was built for White middle-class men.

The systems that have been in place historically now no longer meet the needs of the students that we have in front of us.

- There are a lot of adult learners getting their undergraduate education, and a lot of those folks have kids.

- Their lives are complex.

Many of them are working, they're raising families, and they're completely on their own trying to figure out life.

(parent exhales) (cars honking) - When I really realized what it was to be a mom, I'll never forget I was trying to find a job, and at this point it is like the middle of the night.

It's 1:00 AM, and I'm carrying her in my arms.

I've got my backpack on, and I'm just going from establishment to establishment and bar to bar.

And my arms were burning from just carrying her for hours.

(solemn music) And in that moment I was like, this is what it means to be a mom.

I have got to figure out how to make money.

I've got to figure out how we're going to eat.

My whole life, I've either been working two full-time jobs, a full-time job, a part-time job, going to school part-time, going to school full-time, working full-time.

But I was incentivized to go to school because I needed to take out the student loan so I could help subsidize my income to pay for the diapers, to pay for the childcare, to put food on the table.

To say that I was exhausted from that balancing act would be an understatement.

- You can't help but be moved when you hear a student mom talk about what it means for her to be in college and how hard our systems and our institutions are making it for her to succeed.

- Student parents still remain an invisible population on college campuses.

It's very easy to look out at your students and see race, to see ability, to see age, but it is not easy to see parenting status.

I think that's a huge issue.

- On the first day of class, I ask them, "Are you a caregiver to biological or chosen family?"

This helps me understand you as a person.

And I share that I'm a single mom and that I know that life was different for me as a parenting student and that it helps me to be able to service them better.

- My daughter was born in the middle of the semester.

I wanted to nurse her.

I wanted to have that experience.

And I would leave during the break, so I'd go home, I'd nurse her, but sometimes I'd come back late and I was just, you know, I decided to let my professor know what's going on.

And she's like, "Bring your daughter with you."

And I started bringing my daughter to class with me.

If I would not have felt some sense of relief, like somebody actually caring, to me would've been like, what's the point of trying so hard?

It's too difficult.

Everything would've felt like it was against me.

- It's such a fragile house of cards, just one thread being pulled disrupts everything.

- When I had first transferred to UC Irvine, I was living in family housing as a single father.

And don't get me wrong, my life was extremely difficult and challenging, but the campus really rallied around me.

Vice chancellors mentored me.

One of my faculty members invited me and my daughter to her house for dinner.

And so I was talking with my friends, a single mom from Compton, a single mom from Santana, and I remember one of them said, "You as a single dad, you get to be a hero.

But for us as single moms, you know, people blame us for being in this situation."

And that always stuck with me.

- Pivoting people's perspective of who a single mom is and what that looks like is vitally important to getting single moms what they need on our campuses.

Oh, I know I've shifted as a professor since being in the situation of becoming a single mom myself.

For example, I have revised my own late work policies for students.

Most of the time, students who need extra time, there's a really good reason for it that I don't even necessarily have to know about.

That gives them the opportunity to demonstrate what they've learned in spite of maybe having some of these crises that they can't control.

- [Child] Mama.

- The systemic barriers that single moms face are numerous.

It's our job to identify what those systemic barriers are and remove as many of them as possible.

Because what we see is when you remove those barriers, students thrive.

- Like when you saw a- - Single moms weren't a sexy topic.

You know, that's not where people are investing their time and resources.

So we decided to do a study looking at the return on investment in single mothers' educational attainment.

An individual single mom who earns an associate's degree spends about $14,000 getting that degree.

And for every dollar she invests, she gets back $12.

And over her lifetime, she earns $256,000 more than she would have had she only had a high school level education.

- When a single mother goes to college, we see a legacy shift for that family.

The biggest determinant of whether a child will go to school or not is their mother.

- A college degree will break generational poverty cycles for up to seven generations.

I mean, you're really transforming not only that mom's life, but her children's life and our children's children's lives.

Because if you take the time to educate single moms and you help uplift them outta poverty, they're no longer gonna be engaged in kind of those public assistance programs.

They're gonna be working, they're gonna be making more money, they're gonna have a living wage, they're gonna be able to support their families.

And guess what happens?

They pay more taxes.

Do you want a generation of taxpayers or tax recipients?

It's as simple as that.

- We know that student parents perform better academically than non-parenting students.

We've begun to see it with the limited data that we have here at Montgomery College that our retention rates are higher in the cohort than non-parenting students.

They're excellent students.

- Ja'Bette, how you doing?

- Hey.

- [Patient] Good to see you, girl.

- My name is Ja'Bette Lozupone, and I am the director of Student Affairs at Montgomery College, primarily focused on serving student parents.

You know, whether it's a sign that says diaper changing station in this bathroom, or, you know, again, I think about the arrows kind of directing you to... My true role is to transform Montgomery College into a family-friendly higher education institution.

So when you're now walking across campus and you're seeing those expectant mother or parenting parking spaces and you're seeing the Mamava lactation pods and you're seeing the high chairs in the campus, the college looks different.

I'm really proud of that.

Go, for the moment, my gift to you is to tell you how much you mean to me.

I don't think I would be here if it were not for my daughter.

(gentle music) - Hi, camera.

- [Ja'Bette] She was the thing that kept me going.

- It doesn't compute that it should be that hard for someone so committed, passionate, and dedicated to building a better life for herself and her kids.

- [Ja'Bette] I wanted her to have an amazing life.

♪ Hope you always know you were ♪ - I wanted her to have all the things that other kids have.

I wanted her to have the things that I didn't get to have.

And I wanted her life to be filled with love and experiences and wonderful moments and wonderful moments with her mom.

♪ Hope you learn to trust your voice ♪ - [Ja'Bette] The only way to do that was to get my education so that I could get a good job.

♪ You never lose your joy or your hunger ♪ ♪ Girls, you were born to run ♪ - Everyone has a mom.

♪ To reach the stars ♪ - Everyone has a mom.

Like how are we not caring about single moms?

♪ Girls, you are wild and free ♪ ♪ The wind is at back, the world is at your feet ♪ - Thank you for joining us for this episode of "Working Forward" and the presentation of the short film "Unstoppable."

We saw how Ja'Bette navigated her educational pathway and it wasn't easy.

It took one educator to really see her, which helped make a difference.

Here locally, one community college is assisting single parents to reach their educational dreams.

And joining me is the director of the film, Melissa Panzer, Dr. Ebony Anderson, Associate Dean of Student Engagement and Retention at Gateway Community College.

And also joining the conversation is Ayleah Quinn, who is a student at Gateway Community College.

Well, let's start with you Melissa, because this is not an issue that's making headlines.

So how did you even discover it?

- So "Working Nation" was awarded a grant from the ECMC Foundation, and one of the focuses of the foundation at the time was to expand how many single moms were graduating from community college and college in general.

- [Kathleen] And no one was really recording this, right?

- Oh, no, no, no.

- Or tracking it.

- Yeah, no, there is, as I like dove into the subject material, I learned that there is no national data, excuse me, there's no national database for tracking student parents in the country.

And that was super alarming to me, 'cause I imagine certainly a community college, there's loads of single working parents that are trying to balance school and work and a million other, and child rearing and a million other things.

And sure enough, like 3 million student parents, generally speaking, are at attending community college.

One in five students are a parent.

- And Dr. Ebony Anderson, bring you in on the conversation, 'cause you see these struggles day in and day out.

So tell us more about that.

- And just kind of really adding to that.

Because even in our application process, the parental disclosure's optional.

Sometimes students don't wanna disclose that.

But we do know that we serve 70% of our population is females.

We know 66% of those students are first gen students and the average age of 26.

So the data is showing that we do have a population of single parents, specifically single mothers at our specifically community college and then within our community itself.

- And tell me about this young lady sitting next to you that you call an impact player at Gateway College.

- I do.

I do.

You know, one of the things that when I first met Ayleah is that she was in the space of serving.

I saw her serving another student in the Student Life and Leadership Center.

And so one of the things I always find special when students serve one another, it impacts differently.

And so I can tell the student the same thing that she can, but when it comes from her, I realize it comes from her in a different perspective.

And that is what I consider an impact, at the end of the day is that who can send that message.

And to send it to another colleague, to send it to another peer.

Ayleah is absolutely one of our impact players, and not just as a student, but as a staff member.

That's one of the things that she is one of our federal work studies, and she's one of the key players in our space.

- All right, well let me back up and tell people about you because you have two kids.

And by the way, one is a newborn, one month old.

- Yes.

- So congratulations for even being sitting upright on this couch.

(all laugh) You're pursuing a degree with the determination to become a therapist.

So you still have to get your bachelor's, your master's, and your doctorate.

So those are huge ambitions.

What made you think that you could do all this as a mother?

Like what's helped you at Gateway to think you could do this?

- Well, what really helped me was finding the Federal Work-Study program.

That helped me a lot because I know I was able to work and go to school at the same time.

It is a part-time program, but with me being able to work and then when there's downtime, they encourage you to do homework.

So with me being able to do homework at school and work at the same time when I get home, all I have to do is worry about my kids.

(chuckles) I don't have to worry about too much.

- And you say that's really a part of the winning formula, not just having the right support system, but you would recommend to other people in your position try to get a job within the school system itself.

- Yes, when you get involved, when you get a job within the school system, you get involved with the school.

When you're involved with the school, you learn more about what they can help and provide for you.

There's support out there, you just have to go find it and accept it.

- And I know you've taken advantage of some of the programs.

Dr. Ebony Anderson, can you chime in on what some of those programs are that you are seeing that have been the most successful?

- Yes, absolutely.

So, you know, before, we would consider ourself a data-informed school.

So we just don't decisions just to make them.

And so over the last couple of years, some of the data that we pull, we realized we have some key insecurities, food insecurities, housing insecurities and transportation.

And so we have kind of locked and loaded on those three things to see how can we support those students.

And so we have a We Care early alert system, which is an intervention prevention system where anybody on the campus can put an alert, and within 48 hours we start intervention.

And so a good example of that is like for an instructor, they may say, "You know what?

The student was coming to class, and then now they've missed three or four classes," right?

We don't want to assume why they're missing those classes.

So this intervention, we will call the student.

And at that point, most times- - [Kathleen] You're actually proactive on your end.

- Yes, yes.

- Wow.

- Yes, and the thing is is being the Associate Dean of Student Engagement and Retention, I tell my leadership, I tell my peers all the time, it is hard to retain students that are hungry or homeless.

So we have to be in front of, we can't be reactive.

Right?

We have to be proactive.

And so just having conversations, we'll find out they wanna come to class, they don't have gas to come to class, they don't have the transportation to come to class.

And what we're finding out with our parents is a trickle down effect, is that their students are now truant, right?

And so I think now that we understand as a part of our responsibility, if we're gonna recruit the student, we need to be able to retain them.

So we now have a counseling, right?

So we have a counseling area that's dedicated for these students.

We are now, so within the last few months, we institutionalized a social worker.

And that's a big thing because we're finding higher eds having to split, are we in the business of social work at Gateway Community College located in Phoenix, Arizona?

We're in the business of social work because of the students that we serve, right?

So we have these resources in place so we can actually deploy them really when the student need them and making sure they're applicable for the problems and not just assuming what the students need.

- And you kind of touched on something that, Melissa, you highlighted in the film, and that's sort of this shame and blame that these single moms especially seem to carry around with them that ironically the single dads or who are parents don't seem to have to carry that weight.

- Yes.

- Talk about that.

- Yeah, I think that there's a bias just baked into society that single moms made a mistake.

They did something wrong to get into the position that they are in.

And that's just not true a lot of the time.

And for whatever reason, single dads are not seen that way.

They are seen as the hero, fighting, fighting for their family.

(Kathleen chuckles) And it's really messed up.

And honestly, when I simultaneously did this project, I was working on another project actually with a single dad.

And I found myself really, like, complimenting this single father.

And I felt, I was like, "Oh my God, wait," I'm doing the thing right now that we have to stop doing as a culture because I'm making this man raise up while I am just judging these women.

And it's just the wrong approach in every direction.

And I would just go on to add that the single moms, and I'm sure this is true at your school, the single moms that we found during our research for this film, they're thriving so far beyond.

I mean- - Yes.

That's why you called the film "Unstoppable."

- Right, exactly.

They have higher GPAs, they are more committed.

They want to be there.

And it's just any judgment that goes around that is the wrong kind of judgment.

I would just, sorry, I would just add one other thing, which is that when we were doing the work for the film, I was talking to someone in Texas, a president of a college, and he said to me, "Our job as administrators at the college is to give these women everything but the answers to the test, to see them flourish in that way."

And I really, just hearing what you're saying about getting in front of it, it's so much that story.

- And our single parents, specifically our single mother, specifically Ayleah, they're not looking for a handout.

They're looking for a hand, they're looking for a collaborative partner.

And that's one of the things is that we're trying to do is de-stigmatize and empower.

So even with, we know that food, you know, poverty, we know we understand that food insecurity is a huge issue.

And so we actually partner with St. Mary's every two week, and we serve 200 families every other week.

And so that's a huge thing.

But one thing that we've decided to do, because we do find that students, when it comes to certain things, are reluctant, more reluctant to ask for help.

And so we're going to create a gecko grocery.

And so it's going to provide paper goods.

It's going to (indistinct) frozen cold goods.

And we've done that specifically to make sure we de-stigmatize, and it's gonna be a glamorous gecko grocery because we want them to come, we want them to feel invited and we want them to understand is that asking for help is the answer.

It is nothing to be ashamed about.

- Well, and not to be discouraged, because Ayleah, I wanna get t-shirts printed because when I spoke to you, you were talking about this personal motto you have and something that you also tell your peers.

And I wanna get it right.

"But having a kid doesn't stop you.

It should push you."

- Yes, of course.

That's how I 100% feel.

Before I had my children, of course, I wanted to go to school and start my career.

But when I had my child, I was like, "Oh, I need to go to school and start my career."

I need to make sure I have everything set by the time they go to school, and they will have the life that I've never had.

- But you also are still working all of this out in your mind.

In fact, you felt so confident in the programs that you've aligned yourself with that you could have a second child.

Talk about how you've timed this out for yourself.

- Well, when I first started working at Gateway, one of the coworkers have recommended TRIO program and the HSI Excellence program.

And both of those programs have helped me with funding.

It has helped me with getting books that I need.

They have helped me with even learning how to balance my personal life and my work life.

It's been like a lot of help within the TRIO program because of the funding that they provide when it's needed.

The HSI, they help with interning, they help with scholarships, grants, and any financial assistance that is needed as well.

So those little things, they don't give a lot, but it is a lot for me, for what I do in my life.

- So what is like the first step for somebody who might be in a position of being a single mom right now, but they want a better life for their child and they wanna get a higher education?

What would you say to do?

Like step one, here's what you gotta do?

- Step one would be to find your why.

Find why you really want to get where you need to get, find why you wanna work hard, why you wanna keep going forward.

'Cause once you understand your why, you're not gonna stop.

All the challenges, is gonna be hard, but you're like, "Okay, I can keep doing this.

I got this."

- [Kathleen] Aside from being a therapist, you should be a motivational speaker.

- [Melissa] So for sure.

- I wanted to just add to something just on the administrative systematic level.

She's mentioned a couple programs.

And right now in our political landscape, one of those programs are up for debate to no longer be in assistance.

And I think one of the things that colleges, community colleges specifically, what we're dealing with right now is these grant-funded positions, these grant programs that are essential to the success of these students to retain them and make sure that they're actually able to be on the guided pathway.

'Cause we don't believe the last step is graduation.

It is job completion.

It is to get a career.

And so something as in TRIO right now is being up to the debate if this is necessary, when the truth of the matter is that it is the answer between someone graduating and getting a job and getting those resources.

So I think one of the issues right now, and one of the attentions is making sure that we can institutionalize and maintain.

Because imagine we recruit a student that we can't retain because we no longer have those programs in place.

And so I think it's really, really important this conversation a very timely, because it is absolutely important to understand the resources that we have for these students.

- And we're talking about the future too, because as you really underscored in the film, this is about generational change, correct?

- Yeah, yeah, totally.

It is.

I mean, I think to just to, I can reference what you were just saying 'cause I think that part of what we cannot forget is that we need an active participating workforce.

And if those programs get taken away, then we lose the active participating workforce.

And at the end of the day, like that's the ultimate goal.

And what happens when we're looking at the children of these mothers who have to drop out for unknown reasons that are oftentimes financial?

And then not only is a kid discouraged, they also think poorly of the education system.

And that's really bad for, you know, the next generation of potential college students.

And whereas if they're seeing their parent graduate, the impact, it's like a seven-generation impact, which the movie talks about.

And it's such a no-brainer to me.

Like we really need to do everything we can to be these women to find careers that have like a lot of job growth opportunities and really encourage and support them through the system.

And I think data, going back to a really early point you were making, like there are not a lot of colleges, I learned this doing the research for the film.

You think like, it's 2025, everything is data based.

No, community college systems are not data-based at all.

Like, you have to be so proactive to have the data be part of the story.

And I was shocked and really overwhelmed actually by how little that is part of the priority.

- Well, another reason it's important to see the film.

- Yeah.

- I wanna thank our guests, Dr. Ebony Anderson, Ayleah Quinn, and Melissa Panzer for this eye-opening conversation.

It's important for students to reach their full potential and goals and for the educational system to ensure that students, especially single mothers, can fulfill their dreams of graduating.

We're going to continue to have meaningful conversations on topics like this that matter to you.

I'm Kathleen Bade.

Thank you for watching this episode of "Working Forward."

(upbeat music)