There’s a new app in town and it’s one that could make the stressful task of obtaining help through social services much easier for millions of people. Single Stop, USA aims to connect people to the resources they need so they may receive a higher education, gain employment and achieve financial self-sufficiency. The nonprofit organization intends to accomplish these goals through a unique one-stop shop approach.
Single Stop have already helped more than one million low-income households access nearly $3 billion in private and public funds for a variety of programs that include healthcare, childcare, food assistance and financial aid for students. While the new app won’t replace the need for the Single Stop brick and mortar locations that offer in-person support, it will allow users to apply for and receive benefits more independently.
Big Ideas in Social Change
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2013 alone, more than 45 million Americans lived below the poverty line. Single Stop recognized there were logistical problems already in place within the system that made it extremely difficult for many of these families and individuals to get connected to the resources they so desperately needed. Through innovative technology and programmatic expertise, the nonprofit is now strengthening local communities and growing the workforce one thumb tap at a time.
Much-Needed Support for Students
Single Stop has a presence on 18 college campuses, which helps speak to their commitment and dedication to assisting students in obtaining the financial resources they need to get an education. On average, each student assisted through the nonprofit receives $5,400 in benefits each year.
According to data collected from Single Stop, approximately half of the 12 million students enrolled in community college every year drop out, many due to financial difficulties.
What’s important to point out is that Single Stop’s desire to help students gain an education is not for the self-satisfaction of having earned a degree, but to use the education to obtain well-paying jobs. Single Stop believes it can help increase student retention rates by double digits, thereby increasing the skilled labor force and growing the national economy.
Close to Home
Elisabeth Mason knows what it’s like to live in poverty. Before she became the co-founder of Single Stop, she experienced firsthand the feelings of helplessness and powerlessness growing up in East Harlem, and she remembers seeing inequality and injustice all around her.
“Many of the people I grew up with are long gone, either because of the AIDS crisis, the crack crisis, or gun violence or domestic violence,” Mason said in an interview with NationSwell. “I don’t know how much I felt like an outsider, as much as how hard it is as a child to see inequality at that level and feel the injustice very personally, and not be able to do anything about it.”
Change often comes from struggle, and it is through Mason’s struggle that Single Stop was born and continues to grow. The nonprofit organization plans to continue serving the community and hopes to help an additional one million low-income students by 2025.
