JP Alumni Fellow Story: Jocelyn Brown
JP Alumni Fellow Jocelyn Brown wants people who hear her story to prioritize self-care because no one can pour from an empty cup.
The 2024-2025 Jeremiah Program Alumni Fellows are using their experiences, expertise, and stories to advocate for other single moms and their families. 2006 JP Minneapolis alum Jocelyn Brown wants people who hear her story to prioritize self-care because no one can pour from an empty cup. This is her story.
My name is Jocelyn Brown. I’m from the Minneapolis campus. I graduated in 2006, and my children are Josiah and Jada.
A critical moment in my life was my second pregnancy. I was currently living with my parents. My parents told me I can continue to live with them and be enrolled in school as long as I didn’t have another kid, and it seemed like soon as they told me that, I was pregnant again. And so I’m like, “Wow. I am definitely going to have my second child, and I definitely want to stay in school, so I have to figure out a way to navigate this.”
The Jeremiah Program has enriched my life in so many ways — not just providing housing, not just providing daycare, but connecting me with some of the most beautiful women I have ever met in my life. Through the empowerment courses and just getting more information, I knew that this program to change the trajectory of my life.
Choosing yourself should always be a priority. It should never come as an epiphany after your kids become adults and move out. Choose yourself today, and choose yourself every day.
Working in housing and working with unhoused populations, the main cause of insecurity overall is using all your income to live, just to have the basic needs met. So there’s no room for self-care, no room for affordable child care, no room to take classes after work because you’re bogged down with the necessities.
It’s very true that you can’t pour from an empty cup, and in retrospect, I can see moments in my life when I was mothering my children and I had nothing to give. And I’m sure that was harmful, maybe, even to them. That’s why I always want them to choose them, and I want anyone who hears my story to choose them, because you are the one.
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