urban university

Campaign Goal: $33,670

About ArleneAnn House:

We are thrilled to announce the launch of ArleneAnn House, a transformative initiative dedicated to providing transitional housing for single mothers in Oakland. This new initiative, founded by Tracey Nails Bell, CEO of A Diamond In the Ruff and Tracey Williams, CEO of urban university, aims to address critical housing needs and support single mothers as they strive for a better future.

Why ArleneAnn House Matters:

In a city where lower-income households continue to struggle to find affordable housing, ArleneAnn House stands as a beacon of hope. Named to honor the founders' mothers, Barbara Ann Nails and Arlene Everett, this initiative is a tribute to their legacy of strength and resilience. ArleneAnn House will serve as the home of Moms on A Mission, a 24-month transitional housing program designed specifically for single mothers who are actively working or studying in fields that benefit their communities.

The Vision:

ArleneAnn House will offer below-market housing in two residential facilities, providing 14 beds and essential amenities in Oakland’s San Antonio neighborhood. This initiative will not only provide an affordable and safe place to live but it will also deliver a comprehensive support system to help single mothers transition from short-term housing to long-term stability.

Key Features:

Two-Year Transitional Housing: Single mothers and their children will have the opportunity to live in our supportive environment for up to two years;

Comprehensive Support: Services include workforce development, educational opportunities, and wellness workshops tailored to the needs of low-income working single mothers; Community Engagement: peer support groups, and resource referrals will empower residents to build resilience as they increase their social and economic mobility.

Why We Need Your Support:

To get ArleneAnn House up and running, we need to raise $33,670 to cover start-up and initial operating costs for three months. Your generous contributions will help us secure the property, furnish the homes, and provide vital support services. This is more than just a housing project; it’s a lifeline for low-income single mothers and their children, enabling them to overcome barriers and build a brighter future.

Your Donation will be used to provide:

• affordable housing for single mothers working to overcome barriers;
• start-up funds to provide onsite support;
• utilities and maintenance;
• essential household supplies;
• educational resources, workshops, and supportive services.

Join Us in Making a Difference:

Your support will help us create a nurturing environment where single mothers can thrive and contribute positively to their communities. Together, we can turn the vision of ArleneAnn House into a reality, ensuring that our community of single mothers have the opportunity to build a stable and successful future.

Donate today and be a part of this impactful journey!

Donate Now and Share Our Story!

Welcome to our #rollwithus2019 Sky's the Limit for Single Moms annual Gofundme campaign.

The campaign goal is to raise $25k to match funding to expand the Single Moms at Work Program, urban university's (uu),  support, employment and housing program for single mothers departing from public assistance.

Who We Are
Established in 1998, uu is a 501c3 non-profit organization with the mission to improve the social and economic  status of impoverished individuals by providing employability training, coaching, and transitional employment.  Learn more about us from our  website .

After a decade of preparing more than 2,000 low-income individuals for gainful employment, we launched Single Moms at Work  - our most critical effort to date to create impact in the lives of the bay area's most impoverished family unit - single mother led families. 

Click  here  to learn more about our program as featured in The San Jose Mercury News, written by MARISA KENDALL.

Tenth anniversary celebration:  uu team members, single moms, community leaders, friends, customers & the bay area community Photo Credit:  Andre Davis

Our Why
Contrary to popular belief - we believe the "sky is the limit for single mothers." 
In addition to the power of her daily motherhood, we hold a big and important vision for her as a community leader - where she raises her voice of love and concern while creating initiatives that bring about joy and justice.  But first things first, she must first a) feel secure with a roof over her head, b) have the tools to  adequately care for herself and her family and c)  receive on-going support to develop long-term growth and well-being. 

By contributing to our cause today, you are directly helping us to clear the pathway to this larger vision.  



Danita, one of our successful single moms sharing her story at our 10th anniversary celebration.  Photo Credit:  Andre Davis


Our What
The Single Moms at Work Program is a holistic model that includes housing, support and employment. 

We provide:
-6 months of on-the-job training and employment through urban furniture and boutique, our social enterprise located in the City of Oakland.  Mothers receive a wage of $15 per hours as they work and learn hard and soft skills along with personal and professional development coaching.  Additionally, they are bridged to gainful employment after our program and are cared for during their new job as we provide retention services;
-up to 24 months of housing through our transitional housing unit, with a capacity for four families.  Mothers live in a community with each other in a safe and empowering environment and receive individualized coaching services, group therapy workshops and community support;
-on-going support and care to include retention services, individualized coaching, placement and post-placement services.


Tracey working with Shaleah, one of our single mom participants during our retail space redo at the urban furniture and boutique social enterprise. Photo Credit:  Bay Area News Group 


Our Big and Bold Ask
Good News,  The City of Oakland Community Housing and Development Department is partnering with us by expanding our program to serve 5 new single mothers over the next year. 

Join us and raise $25k to match City of Oakland funds that will be used to fill the gap in funds for staff who will care and guide our mothers on their pathway to success and general operating expenses not covered by program funding.  

This is our largest Gofundme campaign to date for the largest cohort of single mothers to date.  Our first campaign we raised $10k to hire single mothers and we did.  Last year we raised $11k to hire single mothers and we did.  This year, we want to go big and raise $25k to support our expansion and match the City of Oakland's support and belief in our vision. 
Tracey and Danita embracing after she shared her story to the Oakland community.  Photo Credit:  Andre Davis

In closing, our campaign will run from 11/11/19 - 12/31/19 = 51 days. 

Here are a few incentives and tips to help our vision reach success:

Sky's the Limit Fine Dining Experience 
-We're excited to announce:  The first 10 individuals who donate $150 or more to our campaign will be invited to our Sky's the Limit Fine Dining Experience, an exclusive opportunity to acquire a seat at a 5 course private chef dining experience including appetizers and a cocktail hour with Chef Lamont Perriman of Montperi Catering and Events, an  established local  culinary persona and longtime urban university contributor (Lamont graciously donates food to our families ).  At the center of this experience  Tracey, our founder, will intimately share her big and humble vision for the Single Moms at Work Program.  The dinner will be scheduled for a future  evening in January 2020 (dinner valued at $3,000).

Chef Lamont Perriman of Montperi Catering and Events and long-time uu supporter.

Tips:
-Consider making two contributions over the next 51 days.  Enter your contributions into your cell calendar as pop-ups so you are ready to #rollwith us;
-Switch your coffee funds to our cause.  Okay, maybe not the coffee funds, maybe your potato chip funds;
-Check in with your employer to see if she/he/they will match your gracious contributions;
-Share by sending the link to your folks;
-Talk about us at your holiday gatherings and challenge someone nearby to give;
-Follow us on Instagram  to see our posts and new campaign skits to view our new joyful single mother skit stories 
-Follow us on    Twitter  to amplify our positive posts out to the world.



Our growing love, justice and joy-filled community at urban furniture and boutique, uu's social enterprise that provides employment, housing and support to single mothers.  Photo Credit:  Andre Davis.


All - Thank You in advance for your wonderful support of our big and beautiful vision.  We're grateful.

From the heart,
Tracey 
Founder and Champion
urban university

Who We Are

Based in Oakland, urban university is a 501c3 non-profit organization with the mission to improve the social and economic status of impoverished individuals.  Our mission is to improve the social and economic status of impoverished individuals.  For more than 20 years, we have prepared more than 2,000 low-income individuals for gainful employment.  Today, we deliver an  ecosystem of support, housing and employment specifically for one of the most impoverished family units in the bay area, single mothers.  Click to our  website  to learn more.



Lisa, working at urban furniture & boutique 


What We Do

Employment
urban furniture and boutique is our reuse social enterprise  that  exists to deliver  Single Moms at Work,  on-the-job training  for single mothers with employability barriers who  desire to transition from public assistance.  The Single Moms at Work Program is delivered in partnership with the Alameda County Social Services CalWorks Department.  Entering into our tenth year, we've helped 25 single parents transition from CALWORKS and enter into gainful employment.  

 
Kimberly and Himani  with families at the urban house

Housing
We operate  urban house, transitional housing as a solution to address homelessness for single mothers and their children.  In our fourth year, we've helped house six families,  disrupting the new social trend of families living from couch to couch or in their cars with their children. 

BAY AREA PEOPLE Urban University Oakland short news spotlight. 

She's A Woman First, our 2018 Campaign 

Over our life cycle, urban university has been honored to work on the front-lines  with impoverished single mothers across differences.  As we move forward to sustain our housing and employment services, we've recently realized that the proximity we've shared with the women over time, has provided us with a very  unique view into the realities of single motherhood. 

One important acknowledgement is that most single mothers have  faced traumatic life experiences that shaped their selfhood, way before they entered motherhood.  These life experiences (generational poverty, sexual assault, lack of resources to name a few), bind many women, our work is incomplete if we don't address root issues.  To test this theory, we conducted interviews of single mothers outside of our programs.   With this new insight, we understand that looking at a single mother only at the point she entered motherhood is narrow.

 In order to facilitate enduring change, we need to acknowledge that She's A Woman First.  Before she was a mother, she was a woman.  With this new insight, we can now shape programming to facilitate enduring change for women.   The challenge for us is, we need to build our staffing and resources in order to do this important work.  Our giving campaign this year is not only focused on delivering direct  services, but also building our organization's capacity.  When we're strong,  single mothers are strong.

Partner with us as we  enter into this significant work.  

Our giving campaign goal is  to  $20,000.  With this unrestricted funding, we will:

-Hire 2 new single moms (last year we successfully raised 11,000, with that we employed 1 single mother with the funds raised);
When the 2 single mothers are  employed at our store, they receive:
-  six months of paid on-the-job training with a special focus on retail skills in the context of a reuse enterprise;
-  contextualized hard skills training to include online keyboarding, math, and donations processing.  Retail hard skills include clothing editing,  visual merchandising and enterprise standards of operations;
-  contextualized soft skills training to include customer service, communication skills, professionalism and team work.

-Sustain our housing program that currently serves two families;
When a single mother lives in the urban house, she receives:
-24 months of housing in a safe and positive neighborhood with access to resources that promote well-being for her and her children;
-individualized and holistic case management services designed to meet the unique needs of single moms to include goal attainment & barrier  remediation;  
-monthly workshops and events that promote well being and community to include self-esteem, co-housing best practices, team work, and community meals.  


-Build upon our housing well-being curriculum to address the needs of our participants in a more holistic manner;
Introduce health, arts, financial and education workshops and coaching. 
We will update our curriculum by May 2019 and 

- Utilize funds for program staffing and operational expenses.
 

We thank you in advance for your support.  We know that we are still here in the community because of your committed support.  Help us continue to scale this one-of-a-kind model for single mothers, into it's brightest vision.



From the heart,
Tracey 

 

Hello, I’m Tracey Weaver, founder of urban university (uu) and Single Moms at Work, a social enterprise and on-the-job training program that assists single moms in developing the skills that lead to private sector job placement.

Such employment begins in our own urban furniture and boutique, starting the cycle out of public assistance, moving towards social and economic independence for the mothers and their families. I am excited to invite you to partner with us to raise $10,000 that we will use to employ and train a single mom as a Customer Service Associate for 6 months in our boutique, giving her the opportunity to earn a wage while learning skills that will serve her and her family forever. 

Mom learning to post items for sale on e-site by Kara

The money we raise through this page will be matched by Alameda County, ensuring that the mom you are helping here is able to earn a living wage while in training. Any money raised above the $10,000 through this page will be used to cover the gaps in much needed program costs, including salaries of the team members who train, coach, and support our newly hired mom.

Annual Mother's Day Celebration at the store

Our social enterprise Urban Furniture and Boutique, on Grand Avenue in Oakland, CA, brings in the funds to keep our program afloat at the minimum levels. We want to ensure our programs can survive and our moms can thrive, so we are turning to you, the community, to join us in this effort.

Tracey & Donna, graduate of Single Moms at Work, now a F/T Shift Supervisor with Home Depot

As a participant in our Single Moms at Work Program, our newly hired mom will benefit from:

-          More than 1,000 hours of retail and customer service skills & technologies training,

-          Contextualized math and computer skills,

-          E-commerce platform sales training

-          Individualized coaching designed specifically to address the personal and professional challenges uniquely faced by low-income mothers,

-          A professional resume and mock interviews,

-          Interviews at partner employers in the private and public sectors,

-          Ongoing employment retention coaching.

Perhaps the most enduring benefit – and a meaningful return on your investment! – is the increased self-esteem and self-efficacy that is experienced by mothers in our program, changes that stabilize her and her children’s lives, within an inspiring learning environment. Please join us, and a newly hired mom, on this journey to self-sufficiency. 

From the fullness of my heart, I thank you. Tracey.

About UU

Established in 1998, uu is an award winning 501c3 nonprofit organization with the mission of improving the socio-economic status of impoverished individuals by providing employability training, coaching, and transitional employment. For over 19 years, we have assisted more than 1,700 individuals with barriers to employment with the successful transition into gainful employment, including single mothers moving off of public assistance, emancipated foster care young adults, veterans, and non-violent formerly incarcerated community members.

By teaming up with local community colleges, nonprofit organizations, and employers, we deliver self-esteem and sector based skills training and individualized coaching. Our work with program participants has led to jobs in the legal, healthcare, utilities, construction, and STEM industries, with earnings averaging $40,000/year, with full benefits. Please learn more at www.urbanuniv.org.


Volunteers 

In 2009, we adopted a retail social enterprise model, as a way to increase our impact in the comunity.  With a unique focus on single parents living below the poverty line, we first opened urban furniture, a reuse furniture store, to launch our program.  One year later, we opened urban boutique, offering reuse clothing as an additional enterprise.  


Danita preparing new inventory 

Soon after, the lease of a house was donated to our organization, resulting in our launch of urban house, transitional housing to single parents.

urban house

In 2016, we made a strategic financial decision to consolidate urban furniture and boutique into one smaller space. We also decided to focus our efforts primarily on single mothers, the most impoverished and vulnerable family unit living in Alameda County. We’ve combined our two stores to deliver Single Moms at Work, strengthening our innovative solution to poverty and inequality. 

Our collective effort is the soul of our work, and we hope that your financial assistance will help us reach new heights: for our store, for our community, and, especially, for our moms and their children. 

To learn more about uu, Single Moms At Work, and the critical need for employment assistance to single moms living in Alameda County, please go to our website: www.urbanuniv.org.


Thank you so much for your support. We welcome you to the uu/SMAW community!