Pathways

The purpose of Pathways is to walk alongside single-parent families, empowering them to break challenging patterns and gain the necessary skills to advance confidently into a healthy, hopeful future. We recognize that too often the resources that serve single parents are siloed and difficult to access, so we address those limitations with a wraparound approach led by a fully engaged care team. 

Each care team member—social worker, medical provider, counselor, community resource coordinator and pastor—has a unique role and brings specific training and expertise to the table. The mental health counselor helps create a pathway out of trauma. The social worker assesses physical needs such as housing, childcare, general safety and food security. The medical provider analyzes insurance gaps, outstanding medical needs, medications, medical risk factors, basic exercise and nutrition. The educator evaluates learning and skill levels and helps create a plan to address any gaps or educational goals a family might have. The community resource coordinator maintains relationships with local nonprofits and businesses for the purpose of slotting individuals into local programs that may benefit them. And the pastor (if they choose to have one) appraises spiritual and community needs.  

Additionally, we ask each single parent to pick three specific goals they wish to address while in the program. Once they choose these goals, we surround them with the proper local community resource necessary to accomplish each specific goal. We monitor their progress and meet with them regularly to provide both encouragement and accountability.  

Every month community leaders are brought in to address topics such as financial management, building healthy community, decision making, and others. Each family travels in with a cohort of other families, offering a further layer of support and encouragement.  

The pathway of each family is uniquely crafted to their specific needs and goals and runs for exactly 18 months. Special emphasis is placed upon building hope and resiliency while systematically tackling risk factors that might prevent a family from thriving. Upon graduation from the program, the goal is to have each participant holistically thriving and placed in meaningful employment that allows them to care for their family apart from government assistance.