Project Working Mom Program
The Project Working Mom campaigns, sponsored by EducationDynamics’ premier adult student resource, eLearners.com, have sent more than 400 moms and dads back to school through more than $6 million in full-tuition scholarships. Project Working Mom first launched in January 2008 to empower working moms to further their education and enrich their lives. The response to the three national Project Working Mom campaigns has been overwhelming with more than 435,000 applicants applying for a full-tuition online college scholarship, showing a tremendous need for financial aid. To apply for a scholarship applicants had to explain why they desired to go back to school, what they hoped to accomplish, how online education would help them achieve their goals and their personal stories of triumph over adversity.
Project Working Mom began after eLearners.com received an overwhelming 1,200 applications for one $1,500 scholarship in Woman’s World magazine. This response opened eLearners.com’s eyes to the education crisis among adults in America, particularly working moms. In the applications submitted to Woman’s World, each woman had her own unique story, but one significant trend became very apparent — many of the entrants were working women who faced three barriers in returning to school: time, money and confidence.
The objective of Project Working Mom was to heighten the awareness and elicit support for parents to advance their education and, in turn, the quality of life for themselves and their families. In this effort, Project Working Mom has provided parents with the resources and support they need to build confidence and become successful online students. Students who visit ProjectWorkingMom.com can take an array of self-assessment quizzes to determine their readiness for online education. In addition to education tools, the site has an active online community that allows prospective students to talk with other moms and dads in similar situations.
Barriers to an Advanced Education
The goal of Project Working Mom is to help Americans overcome these barriers by creating awareness about online education as a viable solution for working parents. eLearners.com is committed to addressing these issues by bringing attention to this crisis, aggregating support for a solution and serving as a resource for parents to pursue their educational dreams.
- Time
Online education, for which eLearners.com has become a trusted resource, is inherently a solution to help resolve the issue of time. Studying online allows students to study at any time and at their own pace. By studying online, they can do their classwork from home and study after their kids go to bed, or even during their lunch break at work. It’s a flexible, high-quality education solution.
- Money
In regards to the economic barrier, most parents need financial aid to go to school part-time; however, the federal government offers limited financial assistance to students enrolled less than full-time. To help fill this void, eLearners.com has created Project Working Mom to offer full-tuition scholarships, so parents can go back to school without having to worry about funding their education. eLearners.com has also compiled a database of more than 2.4 million scholarships valued at $15 billion. That resource can be found at ProjectWorkingMom.com.
- Confidence
Having established itself as a reliable resource, eLearners.com also plays a supportive role by providing guidance, a community and comprehensive tools at www.projectworkingmom.com to help parents overcome their fears and gain the confidence they need to succeed.
NATIONAL CHARITABLE PARTNERS
Through the Project Working Mom 2010’s Women Who Rule the World Networking Dinner Series, eLearners.com partnered with and supported two national charitable organizations: Project Single Moms Worldwide, Inc. and Dress for Success Worldwide, Inc. In addition to the two national charitable partners, several other women's organization served as national community partners for the campaign including:
- National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.
- National Latina Women’s Business Association
- National Women’s Political Caucus
- National Association of Stay-at-Home Moms
- National Association of Entrepreneur Moms