education+for+homless+children

My story is simple, but you won’t like it. I had a job and I made $9 an hour. But one-third of what I had went to the childcare center and nearly half went to rent. The rest went to food and regular bills. I got five kids. I got no other money. You can’t make it on that. It’s just plain and simple. I got skills. I went to school and learned to be a cook. I work good restaurants. I did what I was supposed to do. You just can’t have kids and make it on $9 an hour. When my daughter got pneumonia I had insurance, but the co-pay was high and the hospital wanted me to pay out $300 a month. I couldn’t give them but $20 or $30 and they took me to court. Then my boyfriend got married and wanted to get custody of my kids. I had to fight him in court. I paid $200 a month for a lawyer and he didn’t do nothin ’. I had to get all the witnesses and do all the legwork. Then my car needed a new exhaust. And that was $1,000. Comes a point where something’s gotta give. With the car—I had to have that to work. The lawyer wouldn’t stop getting after me for the money I owed him. There’s just no way. I fell behind a little on my rent and got kicked out. Ain’t no way you can do it. You figure the math. They tell you, you got a skill and you be making $9 an hour. You can pay your bills—JUST pay your bills. Then anything come up and you’re flat. You can’t do it. They say here that they will help me, and they do. But I can’t just convince them of the obvious. I’m off the streets now, but I’ll be back. Ain’t no way you can do it. I could do like these other women and sell a little pot, but I ain’t raising my kids in that environment. So I do it the way they say. Ain’t no way it can work. Do the math. I’m trying now to find a job that will pay me just a little more, but so far no good. The good salad and grill jobs are way out by Waukesha. Then I’d have to have a better car and spend hours traveling and my daycare wouldn’t keep the kids that late. I don’t know what the solution is. I feel like it’s just no use. All I can do is get me some boyfriend that will bring a little money into the house. But then I have to feed him too.
 * Date: ** Fall, 2001** Site:** Outside of Family Crisis Center **  Demographics: ** African American/f/35