Support Black Lives Matter in Atlanta: Uplift A Single Parent Student

We know this: One of the best ways to fight inequality is by taking steps to guarantee intergenerational economic mobility (IGM) for black families and their children. One way to get there? Education.

Intergenerational economic mobility refers to the likelihood that a child will experience a higher standard of living than their parents, and in the US this number is sorely lacking. In fact, a 2015 study from The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality found that on average, IGM is significantly lower in the U.S. than in most other developed countries.

What does that mean? It means that poor American families are staying in poverty for many generations, with some scientists estimating that it takes as many as 10 to 15 generations for families to break free of it.

HOPE: How We’re Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

“Education is not a way to escape poverty, it is a way of fighting it.” -Julius Nyerere

Here at HOPE, we like to think of ourselves as breaking that cycle of poverty with education. Our program plays a key role in social justice by ensuring that our participants, who are 95% African American, are able to obtain their college degrees in six years or less and thus secure future wealth, opportunities, and privileges in our society.

There are many black Americans struggling to complete a four-year degree, but our program specifically targets those who may arguably be struggling the most: working single parents living in Metro Atlanta— which is considered by some to be one of the most difficult cities for solo parents.

Our Success Stories

“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.” -Nelson Mandela

As of 2019, HOPE has served 195 people, including 64 single parents and 131 children. Our program, which has an 80% graduation rate, supports participants throughout the duration of their two or four-year degrees by providing rent and child care assistance, financial seminars, and even counseling.

While more than half of our graduates previously earned annual incomes under $20,000, over a third now earn between $30,000 and $40,000, and another 42% of our graduates are earning over $50,000 in their chosen fields— a 121% increase.

Call for Support

“In this program, I was never alone.” – Laverne M., HOPE graduate and mother of five

We’re proud to have served so many hard working single parents in Metro Atlanta, and we’re always looking to do more. We believe that the success of our program is largely due to our holistic approach, and the time we spend making sure each participant has what they need to succeed.

As a small team of only two full-time employees, we’re working hard every day to meet the needs of our participants— and we always appreciate the extra help.

Here are just some of the ways you can support the black lives in our community and help us meet our $2,500 fundraising goal 

 

 

Click here to support black lives in Atlanta

 

Any donation you make will help us to continue our mission of HOPE: to empower, encourage, and equip working single parents in our community, and allow them to provide a better life for themselves, their children, and generations to come.

 

I didn’t give up!

My name is Vlairis, I am a single mother of a three-year-old, and I was a full-time dental hygiene student. My dream had always been to work in healthcare since I was a little girl and that dream continued as I went through high school.

I found out about the dental hygiene career, and I fell in love with it. Since 2009, when I graduated from high school, I had been working towards that dream. Because my parents did not have the financial resources to enroll me in college, I was not able to enroll in post-secondary school right away and had to get a job instead. Yet, my desire to accomplish my dream never wavered.

Years later, with great excitement, I was able to finally enroll in college! However, before I could accomplish my goal of becoming a dental hygienist, I became a mother to my now three-year-old little boy. Some women may have given up due to the known hardships of being a single parent, but I didn’t give up! I knew that I had an even bigger reason to accomplish my goals.

As a single mom full-time college student, it was impossible to make daycare and rent payments. Thankfully, that’s when you came in! You were right on time to help me achieve a better future for my son and I. You gave me help with daycare, rent, and even paid for three months of swimming classes for my son during the summer. In addition to financial assistance, you provided training and seminars to help me make better financial decisions in the future. I will forever be thankful for the assistance and help you gave me throughout my journey.

Now you have the opportunity to help more single parents like me make a difference. There are seven more single mothers waiting to graduate from college behind me, and they need you to do it. H.O.P.E, Inc. is trying to make their dreams come true with it’s Global Giving: Empower & Equip Single Parents Enrolled in College Project. Won’t you click here and give today to affect change in seven more people’s lives?

Thank you for all you did for me and will continue to do for others!

Proud Graduate,

Vlairis E.
Dental Hygienist

P.S. Make sure your donation counts by going to our Global Giving Project page to give your gift! Help more single moms like Vlairis beat poverty. 

Today is the Day!


It’s March 9th! Today is the day that we kick off our Global Giving Project that we told you about a couple of days ago.

The purpose of this project is to help seven single parents complete their college degrees this year and increase the number of single parents we assist. Now we know that sometimes you may feel like there’s always a need and you just can’t help everyone, but we would like to offer another perspective.

Yes, there is always a need, BUT you have single-handedly met the needs of 195 people SUCCESSFULLY! In Gwinnett County alone, less than 30% of single-parent students are graduating, but YOU have an 80% graduation rate! You aren’t making a small difference, you are making a HUGE difference!!

This project will give you the option to keep doing what you’ve been doing and impact more lives, but it will also open the opportunity to others that may want to help too!

What do we need you to do? (1) We need you to go to our Global Giving Project: Empower & Equip Single Parents Enrolled in College and commit to offering one of the following gifts to our single parents…

– $10 to help a single parent open a savings account
– $25 to provide financial training for a single parent
– $50 provides counseling for a single parent
– $100 provides a full weeks worth of childcare
– $250 shelters a single parent and their children for one month
– $1,000 secures childcare for a year!

REMEMBER YOU HAVE TO DONATE THROUGH OUR PROJECT SITE, NOT OUR WEBSITE FOR THE GIFT TO COUNT.

(2) Become our ambassador and share your donation on your social media sites, encouraging others to join you. They say child-rearing takes a village, well I’m convinced that fundraising does too. The great thing about our village is that you’re always there!

We have two weeks to reach our goal of $5,000 from 40 different donors! Will you make it happen? I’m confident that you will.

Sincerely,

Kenita Smith, BBA, MBA, MBA
President/CEO and Founder
H.O.P.E, Inc.

P.S. It’s kick-off day! We need 40 donors to go to our Global Giving Project: Empower & Equip Single Parents Enrolled in College and help us reach our project goal of $5,000! 

What would you do?


What would you do with a 121% increase in salary? I would imagine that things would look quite different financially for you. You would be in a new tax bracket, economic class,

could possibly afford to purchase things you’ve dreamt about, and would certainly improve your quality of life, right?

Well, that’s what 42% of our graduates are experiencing right now. With less than one year in their new careers, many of them have increased their annual income by 121%! Most went from making under $20,000 to over $50,000 because YOU believed in them!

I’m writing today to tell you about an exciting opportunity that we have this month, and we need your help to achieve our goal.

It’s no secret, that we have been on a mission to grow, and we have done so gradually and gracefully over the past ten years, especially in the last three years. This month we have an opportunity to become members of the Global Giving Network, but in order to do so, we need to raise a total of $5,000 from 40 individual donors to help increase the number of single parents we can serve this year.

The name of our project is Empower & Equip Single Parents Enrolled in College, and we need all of our supporters to go to our project and give between the dates of March 9th and March 25th. Now, the KEY is you MUST give on our Global Giving site within these dates for the gift to count. You can give…

$10 to help a single parent open a savings account
$25 to provide financial training for a single parent
$50 provides counseling for a single parent
$100 provides a full weeks worth of childcare
$250 shelters a single parent and their children for one month
$1,000 secures childcare for a year!

Why is this important? We want to see our seven upcoming graduates increase their incomes by 121% too, and we want to empower more single parents to complete their college education. What you all have done is nothing short of AMAZING through our HOPE program, and we want to keep up the good work we are both doing in the community.

Let’s keep changing lives together and exceed our project goal to reach more single parents!

Sincerely,


Kenita Smith, BBA, MBA, MA
President/CEO & Founder
H.O.P.E, Inc.

P.S. it all kicks off March 9th! We just need 40 individual donors to help us raise $5,000 to change more lives!