Outreach Connection Offers Help To Single Parents

Michael Hayes recently experienced something that may now help her as the new director of the Single Parent Outreach Connection.

A divorce.

Last week, Hayes sent her 6-year-old son, Zachary, off to first grade. She got to work later than usual to begin a hectic day.

“I am so fortunate,” Hayes said. “I have an ex-husband who is wonderful to work with, but it’s still very hard being a single parent.”

But from the cramped corners of an office she shares with a staff of three in the Northeast Community Center, Hayes knows her clients have it much harder than she does.

“We’re seeing people that can’t afford diapers, feminine hygiene, baby food…. It amazes me that they can survive,” Hayes said.

The outreach connection serves roughly 75 clients and acts as an advocate between them and the various public agencies they may rely on for help, she said.

Hayes was the director of Consumer Credit Counseling Services in Spokane before moving to her new job.

“There, I was seeing people who generally had comfortable lifestyles but were feeling stressed because of their finances,” Hayes said.

“This is different. Here, I’m seeing people who can barely afford the basics.”

What’s also different is Hayes’ pay. She said she’s making “quite a bit less” money in her new job, but she wanted the opportunity to help turn the outreach program around.

The 28-year-old Hayes, named after a family friend who is a priest, said changes in welfare may soon make it more difficult for single, low-income parents to get help for their short-term futures.

The state Department of Social and Health Services provides some financial support to outreach connection in exchange for job-readiness training.

Recently, however, some of that money has dried up, Hayes said.

“Reform is still in transition, but already we’re feeling an impact,” she said.

As a result, Hayes said she is looking for new ways for the organization to grow and strengthen financially.

She and her staff are applying for private and public grants while trying to expand the group’s current donor base.

Ninety-eight percent of Single Parent Outreach Connection’s client base is female, Hayes said. However, the group is beginning to get more single male parents looking for help.

The outreach connection offers free part-time counseling to those who need relief from stress or other domestic problems. Hayes wants to raise the money for a full-time counselor at the community center.

“The response we had (for counseling) was overwhelming,” she said. “So many people just wanted to have someone to talk to about their problems.”

Hayes is also looking for computers so clients can log on to the Internet for local and regional job searches.

In addition to financial donations, goods such as diapers, feminine hygiene products, toilet paper, soap, shampoo and deodorant are being solicited.

“We get tons of calls from people who need cleaning products. Those are things food stamps don’t pay for. These aren’t people looking for handouts; they’re looking for a help up,” Hayes said.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Information Single Parent Outreach Connection, which is based at the North Central Community Center, can be contacted at 483-4478.