Today we’d like to introduce you to Margaret Cowan.
Hi Margaret, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I know the struggles of being a single mother because I am one. It is my hope to be the voice of this often-forgotten demographic. I have been a single mom since I was 19. I am 41 now. About 7 years ago, when I was studying for my degree, I was living in a crappy apartment, driving an even crappier car. I was working 40 hours each week, barely making ends meet.
My income was too much to qualify for most public benefits but I was struggling without them. I was too poor to be rich and too rich to be poor. While at school, I observed moms bringing their children to class and leaving them in the hallway with tablets, etc to keep them occupied. They couldn’t miss class, right? I thought about how helpless they must feel, how helpless I felt. That’s when the seed for I Am My Sister’s Keeper was planted.
We address the lack of support many single mothers experiences. We work to dispel any stigmas associated with single motherhood. We mentor, support, and empower. We provide resources and access. We formed our organization to provide a village for single moms in the community who do not have one.
We are here to provide them with a network of individuals who share a similar lot in life and to connect them with the various resources they need to improve their situations. Our mission is to alleviate many of the stressors which prevent single mothers from becoming successful. We do this through the provision of affordable housing, childcare, tutoring, and access to healthy meals.
We support the whole woman; mentally, spiritually, physically, and financially. We are not a revolving door. We have created a community, a village. We really can only actively serve 20 moms at a time. We are currently serving 12 so we have room for 8 more! Of course, as we grow so will this number. When we began in 2019, we only met once per month. Then, in 2020, when COVID gripped our lives, the moms expressed a need for more engagement. We added bi-weekly check-ins and then weekly learning sessions.
We also learned that, due to COVID, these moms (who must be working and in school to be a part of our program) needed more tangible assistance than we were currently providing. We began accepting donations for cleaning supplies, PPE, and nonperishable food items. In late 2020, we were granted a free space in the Longview Heights SDA church to store these items and to make them available to our village.
Still, later in 2020, we expanded our intangible services to include Learning Sessions every Friday night. In these sessions, we discuss a variety of topics at the suggestion of our moms. We also began accepting donations for clothing and baby items. In 2021, we received $75,000 in grant monies (from the Community Foundation and the Briggs Foundation) for our efforts.
This allowed us to establish more programs for our moms, like our Moving Assistance Program and our Savings Match Program. This also allowed us to secure our own rented office space that we moved into in January. Next year, we plan to purchase a duplex. One side will serve as our office space and the other as emergency housing for moms.
We are working with The Housing Fund out of Nashville to make this possible.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This road is often as bumpy as the streets of Memphis!
This work is not for the faint of heart. Being denied grants, access to rooms we should be represented in, lacking the resources to provide for those who desperately need them, losing sleep, eating poorly on the go, the list could go on and on.
I wouldn’t trade it for the world though.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We specialize in single moms. We are here for them. However, that may look.
We sell t-shirts, hoodies, and Black History calendars to raise money. We also accept donations.
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Never. Give. Up. Be persistent and consistent.
NETWORK!!!
Be teachable.
Pricing:
- T-shirts $20 (in-town) $30 (shipped)
- Hoodies $35 (in-town) $45 (shipped)
- Black History calendars $10
Contact Info:
- Email: margaret@iammysissyskeeper.org
- Website: https://iammysissyskeeper.org/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/iammysissyskeeper
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamskmemphis/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamskmemphis
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtg7-1A1UznzOtvGD8UA02g/videos
Image Credits
Camryn Carter
