First step achieved in helping county's single parents

Jul. 23—ANDERSON — The first step toward helping single parents in Madison County break the cycle of poverty has been accomplished.

JobSource officials have been working with the Family Scholar House organization to start a program in Madison County similar to one in Louisville that has had an 88% success rate in helping single parents earn post-secondary education degrees or higher paying jobs.

The Family Scholar House program provides free housing and assistance for its participants.

"Becoming an affiliate of the Family Scholar House program gives JobSource full and immediate access to their program designs and operations, intellectual property, database, promotional materials, trademark, candidate selection process, technical expertise and unlimited access to their staff every step of the year," said JobSource director Doug Eckerty.

"We will not need to spend time inventing a program from scratch or trying to reinvent the wheel," he said. "This will give JobSource and Madison County a huge head start in getting our program up and running in as short a time as possible."

Family Scholar House waived the affiliate fee for JobSource to join their program.

Eckerty said JobSource has some funds available to start the program moving forward.

"We have begun discussions with many potential donors to the program locally and around the state with a wonderful response," he said. "We expect the fundraising will go very well once we officially launch the effort."

Eckerty said they are looking at six potential sites for housing for the program.

"I have started the in-depth evaluations of each," he said.

In August, deputy director Jennifer Davisson will begin a pre-residential screening process and start establishing the additional services to include identifying community partners that can help provide those necessary services.

Cathe Dykstra, CEO of Family Scholar House, said the next step is for JobSource to start working with their team on technical assistance and figuring out plans for programming and affordable housing.

According to the StatsIndiana website, there are 5,574 households in Madison County that are headed by a single parent.

During a visit in June to Family Scholar House, Dykstra said there has to be broad-based community support to develop a program.

"We can start getting people into the system which will come before we begin looking at housing," Eckerty said previously. "Family Scholar House is taking a population that is disadvantaged when it comes to education and providing opportunities to single parents. That is the story we have to continue to tell."

Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.