Editor’s note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

When Jessica Funderburk lost her best friend, grandmother and mother within two years, she found herself desperate for a new support system.

At age 40, she struggled to balance the responsibilities of raising her young son while navigating grief.

Relief arrived when she was accepted into the inaugural cohort of the Jeremiah Program Las Vegas, an initiative supporting single mothers in poverty who seek to pursue higher education.

In just three years, Funderburk transformed her circumstances.

She returned to school to pursue a degree in public administration and secured an internship with Las Vegas City Councilwoman Nancy Brune’s office.

Funderburk attributes this journey to the Jeremiah Program and the supportive community of single mothers she’s found through it.

“I would never have been able to go anywhere, do anything for my son, if it wasn’t for (the Jeremiah Program),” Funderburk said. “To have people to lean on that care about what you’re talking about, and having people in the room that we want to be around, people who are where we want to be and also are on the journey with us. … Now, I see a hope and a path, an actual path.”

The Jeremiah Program is a national organization founded in 1993 by the Rev. Michael O’Connell, rector of the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minnesota.

The first campus opened in 1998 in Minneapolis, and the organization has since expanded with branches across the country — in Massachusetts, North Dakota, Texas, Maryland and Nevada. The Las Vegas program, established in 2022, represents one of the organization’s newest initiatives.

Maria Tucker, executive director of the Las Vegas affiliate, has been with the local branch since its inception. What began in a Town Square co-working space three years ago has now evolved into a comprehensive downtown facility just off South Las Vegas Boulevard designed to meet the diverse needs of mothers and their children.

The venue features a toy-filled child care room, a conference room for meetings and job fairs, a dedicated study space and offices for family coaches.

Upon acceptance into the program, each mother is paired with a family coach with whom she meets monthly to discuss educational goals and address evolving needs.

Participants receive comprehensive support including access to discounted or emergency child care, tuition assistance, academic tutoring and access to summer enrichment activities, like swimming or jiujitsu lessons, for their children.

The program also contributes $100 to a 529 college savings plan for each child when their mother completes a semester of college. To date, they’ve invested $11,000 in the college savings accounts.

The Las Vegas program serves 80 mothers, with another 80 on the waitlist, Tucker said.

The group’s impact report in 2024 revealed impressive outcomes: 276 mothers and their children have participated in the Las Vegas program’s initiatives, with 90% of mothers reporting that the coaching has effectively supported their progress toward educational goals. And 98% of families whose children received Jeremiah Program-funded tutoring saw progress in their kids’ academic performances.

The organization additionally helps in other ways, said Chanichi Chanelle Calzo, a single mother raising two kids under the age of 10.

After Calzo was involved in a car accident, the program paid for rideshare trips so Calzo and her two children could get downtown for activities. Tucker even dropped off baby supplies to Calzo at her home.

Calzo now studies applied management at Grand Canyon University and runs her own herbal tea business.

“It was really meaningful that they did that, so it really is the little things,” Calzo said. “It was interesting and weird, like, why are you helping me? But, it was like, oh yeah, I have a community. I need to get used to this because this is my family now.”

A lifeline

The work of the program is a lifeline to single mothers in a town with a significant need.

In Clark County, nearly 55% of births in 2023 were to unmarried women, according to the Community Health Assessment Report from the Southern Nevada Health District. That’s significantly higher than the national average of 38%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2022 — the last year it has data available.

The health district showed that from 2019 to 2023, almost 30% of households in Clark County were led by single parents. Adults and children in these households can experience a higher risk of adverse health effects, like emotional and behavioral problems, as well as lower perceived health and higher risk of mortality, health officials said.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported median annual costs for daily child care in 2022 ranged from $6,552 to $15,600 for full-day care and $5,943 to $9,211 for partial-day babysitting. According to the National Database of Child Care Prices, families spend 8.9% to 16% of their median income on full-day child care, forcing many to choose between education, essential supplies, child care or employment.

“We are bracing ourselves and also strategically planning, so (we’re) really thinking about how we need to be bullish in this context, because our families are on the front lines and experiencing a lot of the fallout,” Tucker said. “I think there’s no more important time for community, like (the Jeremiah Program), to bring people together, to lean on each other. Regardless of how things hit economically, it’s so important to lean on each other.”

Donations to the Jeremiah Program Las Vegas can be made at jeremiahprogram.org/give/give-to-las-vegas-jp.