Why Donate

Working single mothers have financial obstacles to climb. We can eliminate one of them with a child care scholarship. Ensuring their children have quality child care, they have the opportunity to:

• More confidently achieve success in the workplace
• Advance their education and training
• Earn higher wages
• Move toward a future independent of subsidies

Please consider these facts:

Financial challenges of low-income single mothers

Wages and rent:

• Those earning the minimum wage of $8.30 an hour must work 57 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent.*
• A two-bedroom renter wage is higher in the Columbus area is higher on average than across the state: $17.50 an hour vs. $15.25 an hour.*
• A two-bedroom fair market rent is nearly $800 a month.*

On top of that are child care costs:

• The annual cost of infant care at a day care center is over $9,400, nearly the cost of public university tuition.**
• The annual cost of an infant and a four-year-old is over $17,100**
• In Ohio, single parents pay nearly 44% of their income for an infant in a day care center and nearly 80% for two children.**

Workforce development

Financial challenges like these can potentially leave people who want to work out of the workforce. Some working single mothers must choose between paying for suitable child care or staying on the job. Through your generous donation, the Overcomer Foundation can help these mothers stay on the job and continue their education knowing that their children will receive quality child care.

Here's what some of the research says:

“Often, parents must choose between inadequate care because it’s all they can afford and higher-quality care that could cost as much as their paycheck. The latter makes it difficult to make ends meet – or worse, forces good employees out of the labor market altogether.”***

“Almost 90% of survey respondents said that access to child care enhanced their productivity at work and 80% said it enabled them to volunteer for optional work assignments.”***

“Almost 13 million Americans in their prime working years have children under age 6. Many of these parents need reliable child care to be able to upgrade their skills through education, enter the workforce and remain employed.”***

“Over 75% of mothers and 50% of fathers in a 2015 Washington Post Survey said they’d passed up work opportunities, switched jobs or quit to take care of their children.”***

As business and community leaders we know Central Ohio needs goal-minded working parents to build and sustain a world-class workforce. One way is to ensure working families who seek additional education have access to quality child care. This access is a “powerful two-generation approach to building human capital …”*** – that Central Ohio requires.

Impact on children

And, quality child care has a significant impact on young children who we will rely on for the future prosperity and success in Central Ohio.

“Children’s growth and development are at their peak from birth to age 5. The first five years of life sets the foundation for lifelong health, intellectual ability and social functioning.”***

“Working single parents often rely on family and friends to provide child care that may not offer critical educational and socialization opportunities gained through certified child care centers.”****

A win-win for all

Your support is a win-win for all of us. Please donate today. Single working mothers need help to pay for quality child care which enable them to get an education and stay gainfully employed. Our businesses need motivated, skilled workers like these. Providing them with child care scholarships is one critical way we can support them.

Not only do you help the working parent and child today, but as that child becomes an adult and enters the workforce 20 years from now, your donation contributes to that child’s success tomorrow, and by extension, the region’s success.