Staying in School After Welfare Reform: How Beyond Welfare, Inc. Supports Student Mothers in Higher Education

Abstract

Post-secondary education has long proven to be the most reliable path out of poverty. Lack of higher education is one of the most prevalent barriers to women leaving welfare and poverty successfully. Further, post-secondary education enhances relationships between mothers and children and improves educational outcomes for children (Deprez, Butler & Smith, 2004). Also, since women and particularly women of color, consistently face wage discrimination, post-secondary education offers a critical means to successfully increase their wages. This article is a case study of Beyond Welfare, Inc., a CBO that provides a variety of support services to its participants including single mothers who are welfare recipients, who are post-welfare and receiving transitional assistance, who live in poverty or with low incomes, or are considered as the working poor.