Student Support Services - Turnaround & New Challenges

The Displaced Homemaker (Turnaround) and Single Parent and Single Pregnant Women (New Challenges) programs provide services and support to displaced homemakers and single parents to enter or return to a career. The goal of these programs is to assist them in gaining confidence so they may evaluate their abilities, establish goals, and make the transition so they may choose appropriate training or employment to eventually become emotionally and economically self-sufficient. The projects are supported by federal and/or state funds; therefore services may be subject to change.

• A displaced homemaker usually is a person who has to change from a homemaker to a wage-earner; a person who is forced due to becoming widowed, divorced, separated, or the disability of a spouse to seek employment; a person who is unemployed or underemployed; a person who may lack the skills to obtain employment; and a person who is usually 40 years of age or older.

• A single parent usually is a person who has a minor child or children for which the parent is financially, emotionally and physically responsible; a person who is unmarried, divorced or separated and is forced to seek employment; or a person who may lack the skills to obtain employment.

• Services provided through these projects include advising, career exploration on educational and training programs with an emphasis on non-traditional programs, job-seeking strategies, self-management skills (time, stress, financial management), community resources awareness, resource, library, support group activities, and joint services with other MSTC programs. These programs offer services on a one-on-one basis or through group experience in a supportive atmosphere.