Clothing Company Aims To Help Single Moms

It’s never been more popular to be a single mother (some 40% of children are born out of wedlock) but the fact is that raising children alone is hard. Over 27% of US single mothers currently live under the poverty line. Public assistance can help in the day-to-day struggle but it’s not a ticket to financial stability. What’s more, daycare costs can take such a serious chunk out of pay that it can mean work is a less viable option than public assistance. One week of childcare for 2 kids can cost more than 1 week’s minimum wage salary, for instance.

MoJo is a new company whose mission is to help with this problem. Here’s what they have to say:

MoJo is creating a sustainable solution to this problem by building a social venture in a for-profit vehicle. If we teach our employees to produce high-quality products and use the business to provide higher wages, completely funded high-quality child care, healthcare, retirement plans, education and career training for single mothers perhaps MoJo can help decrease their reliance on food stamps, welfare subsidies, and all the trappings of poverty (and we might influence other for-profits to do the same!).

Their idea is to provide not just a job but a new career path with realistic stepping stones along the way. Moms start out as clothing stitchers and are mentored into other roles in the company with more transferable skills. CBS News reports that workers are paid more than $10 an hour and receive career training, health care and the entire cost of child care.

The company is selling blankets to the Dave Matthews Band and logo wear to colleges. They only have 23 employees for their year-old company but hope to have 160 by the end of the year with an expansion beyond Massachusetts to Oakloand, Detroit and New Orleans.

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