Powerful Moms Who Care
Our Work
Utah lacks family supportive housing, shelter options for families experiencing homelessness, and affordable and accessible childcare. Powerful Moms Who Care is dedicated to making Utah a better place for all types of families to live.
Powerful Moms Who Care is an organization led by our members. Projects are determined through a democratic decision-making process. As issues of oppression and marginalization appear in everyday life, PMWC strategizes and creates plans to make change in policy, structures, and social expectations to create healthier communities.
Housing
We believe housing is a human right. Increasing affordable housing for families is one of our top priorities.
We know that Family Supportive Housing can help end child homelessness and bring stability to families in Salt Lake County and beyond.
Because of the housing crisis we are experiencing it is also critical that we make sure that families have a place to lay their heads at night. We currently lack shelter for all the families in Salt Lake County meaning families are being turned away because the only family shelter we have is at capacity.
Powerful Moms Who Care has dedicated a Housing committee to take charge of all the housing issues we work on.
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PMWC Board members at "Open This Building" press conference
Powerful Moms Who Care has been working towards getting second family shelter since 2022. We have held multiple press conferences, rally's, and spoken to local leaders. If you are interested in our cause please consider signing our petition letting our local leaders know that all children deserve a place to sleep at night.
Even though we are pushing hard for a second family shelter, shelters are not the answer to ending homelessness. Family Supportive Housing is the answer.
If you would like more information on Family Homelessness in Salt Lake City click here for the Crossroads Urban Center report on child homelessness.
Childcare
Access to affordable child care is essential for working families. We believe childcare should not be a luxury, but available to all who need it. Child care that is offered during non-traditional business hours is also important.
We believe in increasing subsidies to extend the covered childcare hours available to families to include outside of business hours.
It is critical to our economy that parents of non school aged kids are able to work knowing that their kids are safe. This is impossible without affordable and accessible childcare.
In the years since covid-19 we have seen spikes in tuition for childcare and a decrease in pay for childcare providers. Because of this childcare centers are closing filling the remaining centers to capacity.
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In 2022 - 2023 we developed a child care cooperative model that would allow parents free to sliding- scale-fee care in exchange for their labor to the cooperative, and where some could achieve professional early childhood development licensing while working at the cooperative.
To gauge interest in this model, and to better understand the effects of unaffordable childcare on PMWC members, PMWC sought to conduct a survey of their members and potential members.
We expanded the sample universe to clients of service provider community partners who are also invested in understanding how this issue impacts their clients lives.
Low-income mothers want to work and are interested in the PMWC model. It is an innovative solution to what has been recently made clear, a major local problem.