Single Motherhood In The United States
The first thing that most people think of when they hear “single mom” is often “limited income” or “low income”. Even though this is not always true, it is common enough that there are a ton of resources, from both private and public sources, to help us on our way. Sometimes, the hard part is finding someone local to you that has available funding, when you need it, and in a timely manner.
Free stuff is a great thing! Think about it, if you were in the grocery store one day, and there was a line where everything was free and the other lines were full price, you’d probably like to get in the free one, wouldn’t you? Would that desire change if, before you got your free stuff, they wanted some information about you and your family?
If your budget was tight enough, or if you needed your stuff badly enough, it probably wouldn’t bother you too much, would it?
If you can keep that in mind as you make your way throughout the lists and red tape that are required for the majority of grants, you will probably do pretty well. I think it’s pretty clear that when money is tight, we all need to minimize what we spend and maximize what we have coming in. However, that’s not always easy to do, especially when there is only one income coming into the household that has to stretch to cover everything. And when all of the stretching you can do is not enough, and you are getting more worried each day about being able to provide the basics, it may be time to start looking for help.
Help with food costs, utilities, transportation, education, child-care, job training, clothing, adoption costs, dental and medical needs are out there for single moms. In some states, a single mom can even get a free cell phone with free airtime, with no credit check! I am not trying to say that every community always has funding for every situation, but it’s been very surprising to find out how much help there is out there. I was embarrassed for a really long time about how much help I’d asked for and used throughout the years, until I realized one very important fact. The help is out there exactly for people like you and me, so why should I feel awkward or shy about asking for it?
I obviously am not suggesting that people depend on agencies for or charities for all of their needs. I am a huge advocate of education and working. That being said, it’s a lot easier to get to work and school if you have childcare, transportation, and appropriate clothing. It’s also easier to stay working or in school, if you have help with tuition costs and gas to put in your car. Getting a job without being able to get there on time each day, or being accepted to a college without being able to pay the tuition, is pretty much a waste of everyone’s time. Sometimes, just having the money to pay for gas and childcare before the first paycheck can be hard for a lot of single moms, so using grants to take care of that for you is a great idea.
Each program that has grants to meet basic needs will have their own criteria that helps them decide which person gets approved, and how much they will be able to receive. Therefore, the best advice I can give is to apply as soon as possible after you know you need help, and to apply with, as many places as possible that offer the type of help you need. That way, if one source of funding falls through, you have some other grants available to you.
My goal with this website is to share all of the information that I have, with every single mom that needs help. Whether it’s something small that doesn’t happen very often, like a winter coat for your kids or something bigger, like help with your electric bill each and every month, I’d like to make sure that you have the information necessary to find the help you need. Please come along for the ride and feel free to suggest resources to me, if I haven’t talked about something you think I should.
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