Kingsborough Community College Awarded $175k From JP Morgan Chase To Improve Support For Single Mother Students

Support For Single Mother Students

Support For Single Mother Students

KCC Awarded $175k From JP Morgan Chase To Improve Support For Single Mother Students

Kingsborough Community College (KCC) has been awarded a $175,000 grant from JP Morgan Chase to implement strategies for improving support for single mother students. The College will use the funds to build on work done as part of a national project titled Treasure Project: College Success for Single Mothers (CCSM), funded by ECMC Foundation.

The needs of single mothers are very different from the typical college student, and the complex lives of single mothers make it challenging to develop relationships. “As single moms, they are juggling a lot,” noted Helen-Margaret Nasser, director of Student Life and the Student Union and Intercultural Center. “We want to carve out a place where they can be themselves, share their experiences and challenges, and focus on themselves. This will help make them stronger, and ultimately feel more supported as parents.”

During the first year of the three-year project, the College put together a team with representatives from Academic Affairs, the Access Resource Center (ARC), the Women’s Center, Institutional Research, and Student Affairs. The team focused on collecting data via surveys and virtual focus groups to gain a deeper understanding of the single mothers at the College: their experiences as students, the supports they need and use, and the gaps in supports they encounter.

Several strategies were identified that will be supported by the JP Morgan Chase grant, including developing a way to better identify the single mother population in order to connect them to the services and supports they need to succeed.

With the Chase grant, the College hopes to hire a student success coach for single mothers, to work with student mothers individually. The College has a variety of special programs and campus resources to support women, single parents, and low-income students. However, many students only learn about available resources, or pursue them once they are in crisis mode.

Women’s Center Director Frances Robinson, was a single mother herself who had returned to college part-time when her daughter turned eight. “When I went to college, I didn’t utilize these kinds of services – mainly because I didn’t know they existed but also because I was too busy,” she noted. “In retrospect, I feel like I did myself a disservice. When you’re connected to a program or a service on campus, it enhances your experience as a student.”

“Just having a sense of belonging, academically as well as socially, helps single-parent students persist,” added Dr. Yelena Bondar, associate dean for Student Success Programs. Single-parent students have noted that connecting with one person on campus who cared made significant differences in feeling included and belonging.”

“We want to make sure there are no barriers to being academically successful,” said Hattie Elmore, director of the Access Resource Center. “If there’s any way we can assist them, we want to be there for them. Many times, students think they have to choose parenting or childcare over school. My office, for example, can do a benefits screening for government support or other resources available to them as student-parents. If they are less stressed, they can focus better on their studies.”

The College also proposes providing professional development for faculty, who are the students’ primary points of contact. “We want to help faculty understand the challenges of single mothers and become familiar with strategies to support them,” said Bondar.

“We also don’t want students to hide or feel embarrassed about what they’re juggling. We want to encourage students to advocate for themselves: to speak to their professors,” added Nasser. “We want them to control the narrative and share the reality of what they are experiencing with their professors and advisors and not wait until people have made their own judgments if, for example, they’re late or miss a class or assignment.”

The College is currently developing a printed guide to help direct single mothers to available services on campus. “Single mothers are used to being their own problem solvers. We want them to know we are here to help with that,” said Elmore. “If they have an issue with food, getting text books, internet connections, or there’s suddenly an emergency expense, we can try to help. And, if there are issues that cannot be resolved, it gives us some direction for developing other resources. We want them to know that, yes, you’ve got a lot on your plate but we’ve got you.”



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