Single mothers getting supplemental income 

The Lifeline to Ignite Financial Transformation program, known as LIFT, is a privately-funded initiative that provides its inaugural cohort of 15 clients with a supplemental income of $1,000 per month for up to two years if they enroll in educational programs and receive economic and social case management. 

With LIFT assistance, Millan has been able to focus on her education and get on a path to long-term financial support for her family — serving as an inspiration to her children, who are both in elementary school. 

“Kids get a little tired of going to school, or they just want to stay home with mom, or just not go to school in general, and it’s like, well, no, because we all have to go to go to school,” she said. “You have to go to school. I have to go to school. We all have to go to school.” 

This wraparound services model is to sustainably bridge wealth gaps for low-income single mothers struggling to make ends meet, Samaritan House CEO Laura Bent said. 

“LIFT is about providing that $1,000 a month for up to two years with the requirement that you have an employment aspirational goal, a career goal, and that you’re willing to work on that goal in those two years, such that your income will improve by the end of the program,” she said. 

A Samaritan House case manager works intensively with the clients, helping connect them to San Mateo County’s social services network — a bureaucracy that can be hard to navigate for many. For Millan, that’s meant receiving support with issues with which she previously had no idea the county or nonprofits could assist. 

“It’s more sharing — ‘I’m having this issue with, for example, my car.’” she said. “[Then] ‘Oh, there’s a program you might be able to qualify for. Let me get that information and set up a meeting and see if you’re able to qualify.’”  

Rather than a guaranteed income program, which provides only financial support, the LIFT model is predicated on additional educational and social welfare components, Bent said. 

Requirements like participation in Samaritan House’s financial literacy program are designed to give clients the concrete tools to manage their money and space to envision larger goals for themselves.

“This was about asking someone to dream and dream big,” Bent said. “What do you want to do? Right now, you may be working one or two jobs, and you’re living to work. If you really could dream … If you could work to live and have your dream job, what would it be?” 

Currently, the program is funded via private donors, and Samaritan House is closely tracking client outcomes in hopes of securing funding for a second cohort. In addition, the nonprofit hopes to expand LIFT program services to single fathers as well, Bent said. The first cohort application was extremely competitive, with more than 900 applicants. 

The low-income single mother demographic was originally chosen for the pilot because that group is statistically financially marginalized in San Mateo County, where an annual income of $104,000 per year for a family of three is considered low income. 

“Single moms are disproportionately affected by all the economic hardships in the county, and they suffer the highest poverty rates,” Isabelle Anderson, Samaritan House director of institutional partnerships, said. 

The ultimate goal of the program is for the cohort to increase their incomes in a systemic, long-term manner, Bent said. With that often comes feelings of empowerment and growth. 

“It really is about their choices, the work that they’re putting into this, and how much they will take advantage of each of the services that are available to them,” she said “So far, everybody’s all in.”

holly@smdailyjournal.com

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