Non-profit Leader: Patty Healy Janssen, Executive Director, Jeremiah Program
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 2:30AMArticle by Becky Fillinger, photos provided
Patty Healy JanssenFounded in 1993, Jeremiah Program is headquartered in Minneapolis with nine campuses across the country. Their work with single mothers is innovative and proven effective in breaking the cycle of poverty. We talked to Patty Healy Janssen, Executive Director, to learn more about this game changing non-profit and how we can assist their efforts.
Q: Please tell us about the history and mission of Jeremiah Program.
A: Jeremiah Program (JP) is a nonprofit organization helping single mothers invest in themselves so they can thrive and take steps toward economic mobility. Our programs empower single mothers to gain ongoing access to higher education, affordable childcare, housing and the training they need to further their professional development.
Q: It's so commendable that the Jeremiah Program is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty for single mothers and their children. In your 30th year, what outcomes have you seen in this goal? What is the return on investment that you've documented after 30 years of your program offerings?
A: While JP was founded in 1993, the current model we use today with physical campuses and housing didn’t begin until the first building opened in Minneapolis in 1998, so this year we are celebrating our 25th anniversary! Today, JP is a national thought leader on generational poverty and the systemic barriers facing single-parent families. Our success lies in our commitment to meeting the moment, addressing structural inequities, and following the leadership of women most proximate to the issues of early childhood education, college access, income inequality and affordable housing. In 2022, our Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses served the highest number of families in our history, impacting 657 lives. Our family coaches delivered over 2,500 hours of coaching support to our moms as they navigated their college success journeys. Our teachers provided education and developmental support to 66 children from ages 0-5.
Over 25 years, we’ve supported nearly 200 single mother college graduates in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro. Additionally, we’ve created a 529 college savings plan match program to jumpstart their children’s college going futures.
Q: What type of volunteer opportunities are available here in Minneapolis?
A: In 2022, JP launched the Career Volunteer Mentor Program (CVMP), a 4-week program that pairs JP Moms with career professionals. This program is available to all JP locations and due to the virtual nature of the program, our career volunteer mentors join from across the nation. By the end of the year, three sessions of the program were hosted during the months of February, June, and October, and over 100 JP moms and career volunteer mentors participated.
Participating JP moms learn to leverage their experiences to create powerful career profiles on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, with the guidance of the paired career volunteer mentor and their professional insights. However, the larger goal of this program is empowerment. Empowering our moms to own their stories in an advantageous way that highlights their transferrable skills and empowering our career volunteer mentors to experience the success of coaching while simultaneously gaining a better understanding the systemic challenges single mothers face that impede economic mobility.
Q: What programs and services are offered to your participants?
A: The JP experience provides resources and support for moms to author life-changing opportunities for their families and their children. This is achieved through our five core pillars, which are anchored by personalized coaching to form a two-generational model. Our moms have access to support for career-track college education, quality early childhood education, safe and affordable housing, empowerment and leadership training, and a supportive community.
Q: How does a single mother qualify to enter the program?
A: To become a JP mom, you must be a single mother to at least one child and hold a high school diploma or GED. You also have to be ready to start or go back to college within 6 months of acceptance and must attend our virtual Empowerment and Leadership course weekly for 12 consecutive weeks. For Minneapolis mothers, we also require at least one child to be under the age of 5 and if you are applying for housing, all children must be under the age of 7.
Q: Please tell us about the Empowerment course.
A: JP’s signature Empowerment and Leadership course (E&L) is based on the premise that our moms are the experts of their lives and their families. Empowerment training is a 12-week course held virtually that is an admissions requirement for our program. In E&L, moms reflect on the arcane narratives placed on low-income women, especially women of color and mothers, and reassert their role as experts in their own lives and leaders in their communities. They begin exploring new possibilities and goals for themselves within a supportive community of other single mothers, including attending workshops to build capacity in career exploration, financial literacy, positive parenting, healthy living and more.
Q: How may we support your efforts? Do you need donations of household items, in addition to cash?
A: To learn more about how to support JP and our moms, check out our website. Encourage anyone in your network who can benefit from our program and community to apply, or consider giving a monetary donation to help support our work.
Q: How may we follow your news?
A: Check out our website. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
Editor's Note:
