Jeremiah Program Hoping to Help Single Mothers Finish College

The new Jeremiah Program center is set to open in early 2018 with a 20-unit complex and a child care facility

FARGO, N.D. — A child care service that many low–income families have relied on is closing soon.

The Jeremiah Program is breaking ground next month on a new project, but will the new facility fit the needs of those left behind?

When Nokomis Child Care Center announced it was closing at the end of June, in part to a lack of funding, low–income families lost a vital service.

“Nokomis was a child care center that was open to everyone in the community,” said Sherri Hashbarger, Director of Marketing and Communications for The Village Family Services. “We did have scholarship funding for low–income families.”

With the Nokomis Child Care Center closing and the groundbreaking of the Jeremiah Group Center happening soon, parents still looking for an option may want to switch over to the Jeremiah Program; however, the focus of the two groups are very different.

The Jeremiah Program is specifically focused on single mothers with children under five years old and helping them get through school.

“A lot of our moms have goals and aspirations of doing better but don’t have support to achieve their goals, so Jeremiah Program provides wrap–around services – comprehensive services – to support our moms so that they can go to college,” said Diane Solinger, Executive Director of the Jeremiah Program.

The new center opening in 2018 will include 20 low–rent apartments and a child care center which will help these single mothers find their footing with the least amount of economic impact.

“Many moms cannot afford to live in a location that they good about raising their children in,” said Solinger.

The Jeremiah Program has already made a difference in the lives of single mothers in the F–M area.

“It changed my mindset, it made me believe in myself, and I actually got up the courage to go back to school and now I go to NDSU,” said Monique Rauls, participant in the Jeremiah Program.

For more information on the Jeremiah Program, click here.