The Problem: Low-income mothers face many challenges to securing living-wage jobs. Barriers such as inflexible work hours, lack of affordable job training programs, lack of childcare options and stereotypes held by employers about these women keep them stuck in a state of economic immobility. The lack of economic security puts their health and social well-being at risk, as well as the health and social well-being of the children.
Impact of the Problem: Chronic low wages without any benefits, and/or a lack of living wage job opportunities sustains generational poverty for these mothers and their families. This generational poverty is a key social determinant of health, impact birth outcomes, maternal health and child development.
Our Mission: We are working to ensure that the work environments of these mothers support them during prenatal and postpartum periods, as well as through the early development of their children. In addition, we are growing partnerships with funders to provide job training programs at no or low cost, with schedules that work for these mothers.
Our Approach: As with all programmatic areas of the Grassroots MCH Initiative, our priority is to listen to the mothers and learn of the barriers they face to living-wage employment, and the challenges they face once gaining employment. We use the narratives of the mothers to build partnerships and programming to address their needs and supply them with resources and/or opportunities for success.
Past and Current Projects
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In 2024 we led a series of workshops for members of the legal community and employers to understand and implement the US Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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Thanks to funding from the Indiana Department of Health, over the next five years we will be able to support up to 75 economically vulnerable mothers in receiving training and certification in an array of entry level healthcare workforce jobs.
Future Objective
Work with partners at EmployIndy and with Grassroots MCH Leaders and funders to develop a toolkit of trauma-informed workplace practices to support the inclusive hiring and retention of these mothers into living-wage careers.
For more information, contact:
Jack Turman, Jr., PhD, professor of pediatrics and director of the Grassroots MCH Initiative at jaturman@iu.edu
Paige Klemme, PhD, LSW, housing intervention director, Grassroots MCH Initiative at pklemme@iu.edu
Jimmy Carlucci, MD, MPH: assistant professor of pediatrics and director of mentoring mother programming for mothers living with HIV at jimcarlu@iu.edu