After school on a bright May afternoon, brothers Jayden, Elijah and Emmanuel kick a bright yellow ball around their backyard in Douglasville.
The 7, 9, and 10-year-old siblings are under the watchful eye of their mother, Nikki Blount, a recently divorced single parent currently working as a patient care technician at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
During her marriage, Blount was a stay-at-home mom who only worked part-time about two days a week.
“When we were going through the divorce, there’s no way I could afford three children,” said Blount. “I could barely afford groceries in the house.”
The journey to adjusting to life as a single parent took a toll not only on her finances but also on her mental health.
“My self-esteem was underground. It was lower than low because I felt like I couldn’t take care of my children,” she recalled. “The only way I can see myself getting out of this is if I go back to school and invest in myself.”
In Georgia, single mothers with a college degree are significantly less likely to experience poverty than those with a GED, according to the Institute of Women’s Policy Research.
Despite her financial strains, Blount enrolled in the Chamberlain School of Nursing in Sandy Springs.
“I was second-guessing myself,” she said. “But one thing I never stopped doing, I never stopped praying.”
And shortly after her admission, she received an email from H.O.P.E. Inc.
Founded in 2009, the Duluth-based nonprofit provides housing assistance and child care assistance for single-parent college students working towards an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree.
Since its creation, H.O.P.E. has assisted nearly 150 single parents through grants and fundraisers. It currently provides 29 parents with $400 a month toward housing, quarterly grocery stipends and gas assistance.
The program, which boasts an 83% graduation rate, accepted Blount last year.
“We essentially help kinda take off that stress of how am I gonna pay these bills?” said Danielle Hodge, the program’s director. “How am I going to work and go to school and still have time for my children?”
She relates firsthand to the experiences of the program participants, becoming a single parent herself at the age of 21.
“At that time, I decided to go to school to get my degree and as a single parent working three jobs, [I] put myself through school, obtained my bachelor’s degree, decided to go back for my master’s degree,” Hodge said.
The highs and lows she experienced along the way proved palpable.
“I felt shameful, you know?” Hodge said. “If I was like, ‘Hey, I need help with groceries,’ or ‘I can’t put food on the table’ … I was embarrassed.”
“Being a woman and being divorced, it’s just, in my mind, I feel like society is like, ‘that’s not a good look,'” added Blount. “That in itself was tough. And that was something I didn’t wanna talk about, but that was something I had to open up, you know, when I got accepted in the program.”
She says that having a support system at H.O.P.E. has allowed the 3.8 GPA student to be stronger in the classroom and at home.
“Them investing in me, it helps me to be a better parent, even psychologically, and being there for them emotionally,” Blount said.
“We really do create this relationship with our participants where it is more like family, not just someone that’s coming through a program or providing assistance,” Hodge said.
“It is more of a building, a connection with these moms. Seeing them through the process, helping them through the process, and then staying connected with them once they graduate to make sure that they are thriving.”
And while Blount still has a way to go before receiving her degree, she is already reflecting on how she can help affect the lives of others based on the newfound hope she has received.
“When I finish, I’m going to invest in another parent,” she said. “‘Cause if I win, we all win.”
