Seasons Village

Seasons Village's Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) is a two and a half year program that provides a network of resources and support to improve outcomes for families through opening pathways for education, supporting family well-being, and promoting economic prosperity. We support highly motivated single mother scholars, age 18 or above, earning less than 60% AMI, who have a high school diploma or GED and desire a brighter future for themselves and their children through pursuing a post-secondary degree or certifications with labor market value. Investing in the lives of single mothers directly impacts the trajectory of the next generation of our community. Education remains the greatest lever for economic mobility and supportive relationships encourage our resilient scholars to achieve their educational goals. Why Seasons Village was inspired to start Pathways to Prosperity: We are unique in Wake County and fill a gap in services for some of the most vulnerable families. Educational credentials can transform lives from surviving to thriving. Further, supporting our scholars helps fill the vital need for a qualified, diverse workforce with a range of post-secondary credentials. In 2020, 42% of jobs in the Triangle require an associates degree or higher. Single mothers in NC who graduate with an associate degree are 44% less likely to live in poverty than a high school graduate. Those with a bachelor's degree are 71% less likely to live in poverty than a high school graduate. Their children also reap important benefits, such as improved behavioral and academic outcomes and an increased likelihood of going to college themselves. (North-Carolina.pdf (iwpr.org). The US Census Bureau says the median income for US families led by a single mother in 2020 was about $49,214, well below the $101,517 median for married couples. But according to NC Policy Watch, a household of 4 requires an annual income of $81,850 just to make ends meet Wake County. Among children living with mother only, 38.1% lived in poverty. In contrast, only 7.5% of children in two parent families were counted as poor. Families headed by women of color fared even worse. Nearly two in five (35%) of Black female-headed families lived in poverty, Hispanic (34%), White (26%), American Indigenous (43%) and Asian (22%). Single mothers are most likely to drop out of college because of childcare obligations and the need to shift money from education to housing costs. We are already seeing impactful results. At the conclusion of 2023, Seasons Village was partnering with ten single mother scholars with an additional cohort of ten families slated to begin May 2, 2024. Here's what our current 2023 scholars are achieving: * Eight mothers are enrolled at Wake Tech pursuing an associate degree, one mother is completing her bachelor's degree online at Fayetteville State University, and one mother is pursuing a graduate-level accounting certification. * 21 children will benefit from their mother's educational accomplishments and economic mobility. Seasons Village provides financial support to remove or eliminate socio-economic barriers to education. This assistance is based on each individual family's circumstances and what is needed to open pathways to achieve their goals. Our emphasis is on supporting education to equip families for economic sustainability. In 2023 this took the form of tuition, books, laptops, and transportation assistance, while also including healthy bundles of cleaning supplies, wellness workshops, and utility bills. Seasons Village also provided our families with a year-end financial gift to use towards areas of the greatest need. In addition to the financial assistance Seasons Village provides, we connect our families to community resources to ensure basic needs are met. We value our community partners - to name just a few: The Green Chair Project that enables us to make sure our family's homes are furnished and everyone has a bed, the Kramden Institute for laptops, No Woman, No Girl Initiative for hygiene supplies, the Diaper Train for our littlest ones' needs, Marbles Kids Museum family passes for family outings and bonding, and the YMCA which provides 9 months free family memberships to support whole family wellness. In addition to supporting the single mother scholars accruing academic credentials, our Pathways to Prosperity program focuses on holistic wellbeing with a curriculum for mothers and their children to reinforce whole family learning, social emotional growth and encourage mental, physical, and spiritual wellness. We provide dinner and programming throughout the 30 months we partner with the families. These family gatherings build community through healthy relationships. In our 16 week first phase, Acclimate, we meet weekly to lay the foundation for their aspirational goals, focusing on personal exploration and development, goal setting for the future and preparation for the challenges of completing a degree while still fully engaging as a parent and head of household. The next two phases, Accelerate and Ascend are each a year long and mother scholars are actively enrolled and accruing credits toward their degree. In Accelerate and Ascend, we meet bi-weekly, and utilize community facilitators with expertise in our focus areas to expand the community connections and social capital. Expanding networks to build social capital is an intentional outcome of our program experiences for our families. Balancing being a single mother, working, and going to school is not easy and the "village" approach supplies critical support. Peer to peer cohorts, and individual coaching are important components of our program. In the Ascend phase, the mothers work together as a cohort to do a Community Impact Project - stewardship is one of our values and we believe in the circle of giving - the community has supported our families, and this is an opportunity for them to not only give back, but in so doing, empower and equip them as leaders and active participants in the life of their community. What our moms are saying: I have been a part of the Seasons Village program for almost a year now and the growth that I have experienced both personally and professionally has been life-changing in terms of allowing me to see myself as someone who is worthy of more than what I thought I could ever imagine. I have made the honor society at school for maintaining an A/B average, I am excelling at work and I am in a good place in my life right now. Seasons Village has been a great asset to my family. The amount of love and support from this program is phenomenal! I have connected with each and every one of the people here and I love them all. It has helped with my emotional health because I know there are people rooting for me.