Career Path Services is awarded $30,000 to support single mothers transitioning into employment!

Career Path Services received $15,000 from the 2020 Women Helping Women Fund, matched with $15,000 from BECU to support Career Path Services’ new employment retention program, Proactive Success Coaching (PSC). 

This pilot program will serve 15-20 single mothers in the Spokane area transitioning from WorkFirst public assistance into permanent employment with continued financial and social support for up to six and twelve months.   

Each eligible participant will partner with a qualified Proactive Success Coach, providing employment retention support through person-centered, empowered coaching, and the establishment of an Individual Emergency Savings Fund (IESF).   Participating women will also receive ongoing social and emotional support through Proactive Success Coaching, which is designed to strengthen participant self-efficacy through problem-solving, skill-building, emergency planning, and fiscal management.  Financial wellness check-ins with their PSC coach may continue for up to 12 months upon employment start.

With the support of both Women Helping Women and BECU, women will have the opportunity to build a savings nest-egg of up to $1000 after six months of employment retention. 

Sarah Featherly, Director of Transitional Jobs, Career Path Services

“What makes Proactive Success Coaching (PSC) unique from other employment retention programs is the combination of two elements: social connection and flexible financial support,” states Career Path Services’ Director of Transitional Jobs, Sarah Featherly. She continues, “Not only will single mothers find strength and support by staying connected with our coach, but they will also have access to a real savings account for emergencies. That’s a huge deal for a single income mother who may struggle to build a savings account, especially when an emergency expense may mean making a difficult decision between keeping the lights on or putting food on the table.  We have seen these mothers having to access public assistance again to deal with emergency expenses, and sometimes making the decision to quit their jobs in order to qualify.”

By providing both financial and social support for up to one year after the mother starts a new job, Career Path Services hopes to eliminate the need to return to public assistance when emergencies arise.   

In addition, through the PSC coaching model, women will learn how to build or rebuild their savings as they use them to meet budgetary gaps they may face. 

“It’s not enough to simply give a person a lump sum of cash and expect it will last forever,” states Sarah, “we all have to learn how to rebuild our savings when we tap into it for emergencies, otherwise, when or if the next emergency arises, we will find ourselves back to square one with nowhere to turn but credit cards, loans or public assistance.”

Proactive Success Coaching will begin July 1^st, 2020, and will serve single mothers exiting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) with employment. 

For more information, you can contact the Eastern Washington Branch Manager, Kelli Eller, at keller@careerpathservices.org[.