GROW—Generations Realizing Occupational Wellness

Helping low-income mothers and fathers of young children seek more education, secure better jobs, and gain financial independence.
PictureYoung parents can use GROW resources to help break the chains of intergenerational poverty.


As one low-income mother told us:

Being poor is looking at your children in the backseat of your car, clutching the box of raisin bran you just bought and trying to figure out how to explain to them that that box has to last.

How do unemployed or underemployed young parents find the resources to hold things together at home, while they search for family-sustaining work? 

​Pennsylvania Women Work has a new answer for these young parents and their children: a new program designed to address the growing problem of intergenerational poverty.

GROW (Generations Realizing Occupational Wellness) is a statewide program for young families that helps young, low-income mothers and fathers (ages 18-35) and children do better together. GROW helps parents learn the skills and line up the resources to become ready for better jobs, while addressing their children’s well-being at the same time, so low-income families can still accomplish financial independence. In a classroom setting with individualized support, GROW participants learn how to set personal career goals, seek jobs online, make a better impression at interviews, manage household finances, and balance parenting and childcare with other family needs.

GROW addresses a critical need for support in underserved communities, neighborhoods where it may be difficult to find family-sustaining work, get access to (or afford) childcare, or get connected with the educational resources that will open up better jobs.

“Nearly one in five Pittsburgh families live in poverty, and the vast majority of these families are headed by single mothers,” said Julie Marx, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Women Work. “While poverty affects individuals of all ages, young adults with children face immensely difficult challenges to not only find family sustaining employment, but also care for and support their growing children.”

GROW specifically targets unemployed or significantly underemployed parents of young children, and strives to be the bridge they need to cross over from struggle to success.

Enroll Today!

GROW classes happen in the neighborhoods where they're needed most, including:

-          Braddock, Pittsburgh
-          Hazelwood, Pittsburgh
-          Hill District, Pittsburgh
-          Homewood, Pittsburgh
-          Mon View Heights, Pittsburgh
-          North Side, Pittsburgh
-          Armstrong County
-          Butler County
-          Indiana County
-          Lancaster
-          Philadelphia

Classes are starting soon! 

For more information about this program and to register, please contact Susan Showalter-Bucher, Director of Programs, at 412-904-1959 or sbucher@pawomenwork.org.  
Pennsylvania Women Work is pleased to partner with existing community resources including Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children (PAEYC) and Pittsburgh Public Schools Head Start. 
​This program is generously funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

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