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Madison Correll, freshman in nursing, has started an activism project based on discrimination against single mothers.
“I decided to focus on the discrimination against single mothers for several reasons,” Correll said. “I have seen how hard it can be for single mothers to try and support their families when they don’t have a strong support system. I watched a past neighbor of mine try to raise her kids by herself and just how difficult it had been for her. I have also had friends who were raised just by their mother. These friends always had to be careful what they did because they did not have as much expendable income as the rest of the friend group. The discrimination aspect of this project actually was inspired by some of the in-class reading that we did. We read several different articles about how discrimination in the workplace can directly affect mothers, especially single mothers. This is something that I had not really considered before and so I thought this would be a good topic to talk about since most people had probably not heard about this issue.”
Having personally seen the effect being a single mother has on someone, Correll wants to ease that struggle.
“This project is very important to me because I have seen many people affected by the struggles that come with being a single mother and I would love to make any possible difference in these women’s lives,” Correll said.
Correll is passionate about getting the message out and developing new ways to assist single mothers.
“I would love to see more programs get implemented that can help to fund or assist single mothers in taking care of their children,” Correll said. “There are already some great grants out there but not nearly enough to assist all the mothers that need assistance in the world. I would like to help as many women as I can with grants or programs like the one I am trying to create.”
Correll is currently working with the Salvation Army to create a new grant or program that can help single mothers that are trying to put themselves through college.
“Originally when I was looking at what to do with my project, I started to research different assistance methods that are available to these women,” Correll said. “While I was searching, I noticed that there was a lack of programs and grants that target single mothers that are working on higher education. This realization is what pushed me to make the decision to reach out to the local Salvation Army and see if there was any way to start a new program or grant that would provide some extra assistance to single mothers that are in college.”
Starting some kind of program to help single mothers is Correll’s ultimate goal.
“I hope that with this project I am able to start a program or grant for single mothers that are trying to put themselves through college and take care of their children,” Correll said. “I really want to be able to make a difference in these women’s lives and allow them to be able to focus more on their children and their studies instead of funds. Even if I can just make a difference in one woman’s life that is one family that now has a helping hand to assist in pulling them through a hard time.”