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Topic: Student Parents and Time Poverty

Student Parents and Time Poverty

by Andrea Hansen, former SSP Director, Fall 2023

Back to school is for adults too! Parenting students who make up 22% of all undergrads know well the effort and hours required to complete each course and every semester...<read full article>

National report: Elevating Their Voices: What Single Mothers Say They Need to Survive

Elevating Their Voices: What Single Mothers Say They Need to Survive

(Actionable Insights from Jeremiah Program's Annual 2026 Summit Convening)
by Poonam Gupta, Baris Tezel, Elaine Waxman, June 3, 2026

The Jeremiah Program and the Urban Institute unveiled the national report Elevating Their Voices: What Single Mothers Say They Need to Survive. According to the report, 97% of respondents experienced some form of housing hardship in the past year, 85% reported food insecurity, and 72% reported difficulty paying medical bills.

"I feel that this is an extremely powerful time, especially for single moms, as our voices are finally being heard on a level that's not just community-based but national." Nicole Carlson, 2025-2026 Jeremiah Program Alumni Fellow

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Research report: Policy Levers to Support Single-Mother Economic Mobility: An Evidence-Based Agenda

by Elaine Waxman, Poonam Gupta, Baris Tezel, April 2, 2025

Single mothers represent a large segment of parenting Americans. Approximately 30 percent of households with children were led by single parents in 2023, the majority of which were single mothers who face elevated rates of poverty and material hardship. Further, this population is not prioritized in the country’s social safety net. In this report, we present a set of evidence-based policy levers across a range of sectors that support single mothers’ economic and social mobility and improve outcomes for their families.

Why This Matters...<read full report>

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Newsletter article: Economic Mobility Is Essential to Family Wellbeing—and to Society by Chastity Lord

Economic Mobility Is Essential to Family Wellbeing—and to Society

by Chastity Lord, June 10, 2026

For too long, the United States has treated poverty as a problem to manage rather than a system to redesign. We have built programs to help children succeed while often overlooking the structural barriers the adults raising them must face. For single mothers, those barriers are not incidental. They shape whether a family can remain housed, nourished, healthy, educated, and economically secure.

'The expanded Child Tax Credit helped drive child poverty to a historic low in 2021. After the expansion expired, the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022.'

'Our systems still assume a narrow model of work and family life. Single mothers are living beyond that model. Policy must catch up.'

'Economic mobility is family wellbeing infrastructure.' <read full article>

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