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By Gail Tierney, M.A.
 Like many of you, I've been somewhat frustrated over the years by seeing so many "repeat" clients—women who desired to change their lifestyles but who were caught in cycles of poverty. All too often, they turned to some man to provide food and shelter for them and their children. This arrangement often led to additional children or, at the least, to additional pregnancies.
In the fall of 1990, I was having a casual conversation with one of our counselors, and the subject of providing additional support to these repeat clients came up. This counselor was a retired IBM executive, who thought it would be great if there were some way the Rockville Pregnancy Center could assist deserving clients in gaining the necessary job skills to compete for and secure decent-paying jobs. Such jobs could break the cycle of poverty and provide financial independence for these women and their children.
Thus, the idea of Computer Moms was born. We began with one student, one computer, and one teacher. Don't be intimidated about the size of your program. Start small and expand only after you learn what works for your center and client population.
The Computer Moms motto is: "Give a woman a fish, feed her for today. Teach a woman to fish, feed her for a lifetime."
The primary purpose of Computer Moms is to train mothers of young children in the use of application software for personal computers. Learning typing, word-processing, and spreadsheet development is the core of the program.
To find prospective students, we looked for clients who had young children, lacked a marketable skill, had little or no income, and were motivated to learn a skill. Our target student was the woman who without intervention would likely remain at the low end of the socioeconomic scale.
We begin our selection process with a 35-question screening test. The test covers grammar, math, alphabetizing, and spelling. The prospective student must achieve a minimum of 75% correct answers to enter the program.
A student is required to attend classes for sixteen hours each week. To learn typing, she follows the lessons in a self-paced typing tutor program for up to three months. If she achieves a typing speed of 50 words per minute, she will be assigned an instructor who will teach her word processing. The instructor will meet with her weekly, assess the student's progress, and assign homework to be done during the week. Once the student masters word processing, she follows the same procedures to learn the use and development of spreadsheets. She receives certificates of achievement as goals are met.
Over the years we have learned that our clients came to us with a lot of personal baggage. In order to help each client on a variety of levels, we have developed a holistic program to meet her needs. We added workshops which dealt with personal psychosocial issues as well as business-related topics.
Our workshop topics on personal issues include:
Developing Healthy Relationships, Abstinence—the Best Lifestyle, Financial Planning, Sex and Its Consequences, Having a Personal, Relationship with God, Parenting Skills, Legal Issues
Our workshop topics on business issues include:
Job Interviewing, Cover Letters and Résumé Writing, Dressing for Success, Correct Attitude for the Workplace, Using Office Equipment (multi-line phones, fax and copiers), Job Searches via the Web, Using E-mail
Invited guest lecturers address these topics through lectures, hands-on demonstrations, role-playing, and videos. Student attendance is mandatory.
The coordinator of the program must wear several hats: boss, cheerleader, and counselor. This is the time when she gives assistance in breaking bad habits and encouragement in learning the new!
The student is required to wear business attire to all classes. If she doesn't have appropriate clothing, we allow her to "shop" in our Dress for Success corner. Donors have provided career clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry, makeup, and coats. Upon graduation, the student receives six outfits to get her started.
We encourage and assist our students in looking for jobs. A volunteer who is skilled in writing cover letters and résumés reviews those items before the student sends them. We all celebrate when the student gets her first job!
This is a doable program for any center no matter how large or small. Our students often keep in touch with us for several years after they graduate and keep us apprised of their lives. What a joy it is to hear of their many successes!
Recently, we published The Computer Moms Handbook. This step-by-step guide explains how to set up and maintain a Computer Moms program at your center.
Topics in the handbook include:
Planning, Funding, and Publicity; The Instructor, Software and Hardware, Student Selection, The Training Environment, The Curriculum, Tests and Answers for Microsoft Word and Excel, Workshops, Graduation
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