FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gillian Linden
703.402.6507
gillian@rosengrouppr.com
“Programs like SPSI offer far more than just financial relief. They provide holistic, wraparound support.”
MINNEAPOLIS (May 15, 2025)—Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia, VP of Alumni & Public Policy at Jeremiah Program — a national nonprofit headquartered in Minnesota with one of the most successful strategies for disrupting generational poverty among single mothers and their children — issued the following statement regarding the proposed cuts to the Student-Parent Support Initiative (SPSI) in the Minnesota House’s higher education budget bill.
“We are deeply concerned about the proposed cuts to the Student-Parent Support Initiative (SPSI) in the Minnesota House’s higher education budget bill. SPSI has been a vital investment in student parents — particularly single mothers — who are working to build a better future for themselves and their children through higher education.
Programs like SPSI offer far more than just financial relief. They provide holistic, wraparound support — emergency grants, mental health services, childcare stipends, one-on-one coaching — that can make the difference in earning a college degree. These are not luxuries; they are essentials for student parents navigating full course loads while raising families and working jobs.
Jeremiah Program began receiving SPSI funding in 2024, with the current grant cycle ending in early 2026. The proposed cuts would interrupt momentum and potentially undermine the real progress already underway. With other proposed funding reductions that also impact single mothers and student parents, these combined cuts could be devastating to the communities we serve — communities that are already being asked to do more with less, time and time again.
We urge lawmakers to consider the long-term consequences. According to the Center on Equity in Higher Education, when single mothers earn degrees, they are significantly less likely to live in poverty and contribute more to our workforce and economy — paying nearly $82,000 more in taxes over their lifetimes and requiring far less public assistance.
Let us be clear: this is not just about one program. It is about the future of 23% of Minnesota’s college students who are also parents — nearly half of whom are single mothers. These students are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for the support they need to graduate, thrive, and contribute meaningfully to Minnesota’s economy and communities.
JP encourages concerned Minnesotans to contact their state legislators and urge them to preserve full funding for SPSI. Let them know that investing in student parents is not just the right thing to do — it’s a smart investment in our state’s future. You can find your representatives and their contact information at www.leg.mn.gov.
As the final budget is negotiated, we urge our state leaders to protect and prioritize investments in student parents. The success of families, our workforce, and our state’s future depends on it.”
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.
