FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gillian Linden
703.402.6507
gillian@rosengrouppr.com
St. Paul, Minn. (June 24, 2025)—Jeremiah Program (JP) — a national nonprofit with one of the most successful strategies for disrupting generational poverty among single mothers and their children — is proud to announce Mari Jo Long as the new Executive Director of its St. Paul campus.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mari Jo to the Jeremiah Program family,” said Chastity Lord, President and CEO of Jeremiah Program. “Her deep commitment to equity, education, and multi-generational success makes her a perfect fit to lead our St. Paul campus forward. Mari Jo brings a wealth of experience and a profound understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the families we serve, and we are confident her leadership will strengthen our mission and impact in the Twin Cities community.”
A passionate leader and strategic thinker, Long brings over a decade of experience in community-driven work to end cycles of homelessness and poverty and enhance social mobility for all. Before joining JP, she spent 14 years at Project for Pride in Living, where she held various leadership roles in supportive housing, ranging from youth worker to program director. Long holds a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton College and a Master of Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
“Jeremiah Program is well-respected in the Twin Cities and beyond. The holistic approach to supporting single moms is at the core of what I care about — strengthening community and amplifying the voices of those who don’t often have a seat at the table,” said Long. “This sisterhood and network of moms and mentors is incredibly powerful. I look forward to working alongside families, staff, and the broader St. Paul community to deepen our connections and advance opportunities that empower these incredible women and their children and transform futures.”
Jeremiah Program’s St. Paul campus opened in 2007, and serves over 150 families each year through a combination of career-track college support, housing, early childhood education, mentorship, and professional development programming.
About Jeremiah Program: Jeremiah Program (JP) is a national organization whose mission is to disrupt the cycle of poverty for single mothers and their children, two generations at a time. By investing simultaneously in a mother’s vision for her personal and professional goals and the education of her children, she simultaneously reauthors her family’s outcome as well her community’s — proof points matter. In 2024, JP actively served over 2,000 moms and children across nine cities in Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Fargo, ND-Moorhead, MN; Las Vegas, NV; Minneapolis, MN; Rochester, MN; and St. Paul, MN.