Path from poverty fraught with roadblocks

Standing outside a client's apartment, Kirsten Huus said she wasn't sure why the single mother wasn't answering.

She said the young mother in Olmsted County's Baby Steps program has been able to enroll in Rochester Community and Technical College largely due to the assistance she and her child receive, but she didn't have class that afternoon.

She knocked on the door and sent a text message, noting without the program for first-time mothers, her client might not have access to affordable housing or day care that makes a college education possible.

Without an answer, she pondered the possible reasons: Day care can still be a struggle, a variety of issues can crop up unexpectedly and sometimes clients get cold feet about sharing their stories.

Having a reporter at the door isn't always a comfortable experience.

Huus said the young mothers she works with face a variety of risk factors — from mental illness to being raised in a violent household — and it all combines to create an overwhelming process at times.

"Every review I've had for 15 years, when they asked me about what I don't like about my job, it's dealing with the system," she said. "It's dealing with all the complicated, overwhelming eligibility requirements and just the hoops people need to jump through to get basic things.

"They are overwhelming for me, and I have a college degree."

While the client we were waiting for is on a positive path, she said many young mothers face barriers that stem from being raised in poverty, which is the only life they may know.

Unfortunately, Huus said, it's hard for others to see the challenges.

"I think the general public has a limited view of what it's like to live in extreme poverty," she said. "I think people would be startled to see how a lot of people in our community live."

Adding generations of poverty to a confusing system of assistance programs increases the challenges, said John Edmonds, Olmsted County's supervisor of family support programs. He said simply putting people in an assistance program isn't enough. It also takes effort to maintain progress and steer them out of poverty.

"Even if you get it all set up, it's still precarious," he said. "If something gets out of whack, for whatever reason, the whole thing crumbles."

He said the impact extends beyond the parent.

"That precariousness of life becomes a constant source of stress," he said, noting child care often is the first service at risk. "Child care becomes central to all of it because it's the key to be able to do everything else."

With that impact in mind, Olmsted County is on the verge of starting a pilot program in an effort to break generations of poverty and start families on better paths.

With some state help and partners in other counties, as well as at least one other state, Paul Fleissner, director of Olmsted County Community Services, said he's hoping to see outcomes that not only change lives locally but that get national attention.

Huus said she hopes the pilot program set to start next year will change things for her clients who might be hesitant to share their stories with strangers.

"There's got to be a way to make it work," she said.