New Valley Center Program Helps Moms Phase Into Job Market

A new program at the Spokane Valley Center combines teaching and support to help young moms climb safely into the job market.

The program - called Families That Work - is small at the moment, with just two clients.

But Valley Center director Molly Dalpae predicts that 100 young moms will progress through the program in six months.

“There’s a reason we see families cycling through the center again and again,” Dalpae said. “They don’t have the skills to get jobs - and to retain them. This should really help our clients.”

The program is operated by the Institute of Extended Learning at the Community Colleges of Spokane. It has four prongs: academic skills, parenting skills, computer skills and job skills. Young parents or parentsto-be must be receiving Temporary Aid to Needy Family grants in order to qualify for Families That Work.

Red-headed Jessica, a 20-year-old mom who gave only her first name, sorted through a lesson on parenting. The day’s concepts included giving more positive and less negative attention to her 15-month-old.

“Give me an example of something you don’t want Braden to do,” asked Suzie Weller, family advocate for the program.

“Keep him out of the fireplace,” Jessica said, adding that her adventuresome son doesn’t climb in the fireplace while a fire is burning.

Weller worked through suggestions for how to divert the active little one, while maintaining a positive tone.

“You can tell him `stop,’ you can tell him, `Let’s go find a toy,”’ Weller said.

“Or I tell him, `Go find grandma,”’ Jessica admitted with a grin. “I tell him that a lot.”

Listening in is Margaret Kelley, newly hired teacher for the program. She’s planning to use the message in this parenting lesson as fuel for a lesson in writing in the afternoon.

This student likes to draw, so Kelley has asked her to create a poster about this parenting lesson. That way, Jessica gets the chance to put this idea into her own language, Kelley says.

The new program is quite a change for Kelley. She took this position after 11 years of teaching in prisons around the state, including five years at Airway Heights Corrections Center.

“I’m used to having 60 students in a class,” Kelley said. “So this one-onone thing is just wonderful to me.”

Kelley teaches four days a week. The fifth day is devoted to cooking classes, which are a requirement for all Valley Food Bank clients.