kristy

When Kristy Forpahl decided to go back to school in 2019, it seemed like an almost insurmountable challenge. 

She was 40 years old. She had a full-time job. And she was a single parent with two kids at home. 

Just two and a half years later, Kristy has completed an associate’s degree in gender and sexuality studies from Erie Community College and is on track to graduate in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in global gender studies from the University at Buffalo. 

Kristy has reached this point thanks to her own persistence, her family and friends’ support, and the WNY Women’s Foundation, a local organization focused on creating a culture of possibility for women through advocacy and strategic initiatives. 

More than one in five undergraduate college students across the country are raising children. And most, like Kristy Forpahl, are single mothers. 

Yet, the resources for this surprisingly large subset of American students rarely meet their needs. Indeed, only eight percent or so of degree-seeking single moms enrolled in two- and four-year programs graduate within six years. 

Sheri Scavone, CEO of the WNY Women’s Foundation, is intimately familiar with this reality. In 2014, she spearheaded the development and launch of the Foundation’s MOMs: From Education to Employment program, which supports single mothers pursuing a college education at three area community colleges: SUNY Erie, Niagara County Community College, and Jamestown Community College. 

“We have to acknowledge the very real issues that single mothers have to juggle,” explains Scavone. “They’re working, they’re dealing with childcare, they might be living in poverty–they’re one car breakdown away from dropping out of school.” 

The MOMs program was designed to address these core issues. “If we can make sure that, from a career perspective, single mothers have opportunities and training,” says Scavone, “then they’ll be able to more easily find family-sustaining jobs.” 

One of the Foundation’s goals is to balance hard data and emotional connection. It does so by combining things like emergency funding and mock interviews with emotional support networks consisting of professional advocates and other single mothers. It also requires the foundation to provide statistical evidence of barriers and outcomes while creating a platform for the narratives of those it serves. 

“It’s about recognizing that everyone has a story,” says Scavone. 

Kristy Forpahl’s story begins in 1979, when she was born to middle-class parents in Tonawanda, New York. 

She was close with her mother, did well in school, ran track and field, and excelled in the arts. After finishing high school in 1997, she studied graphic design at Bryant and Stratton College. But after graduating with an associate’s degree, Kristy’s life took a turn for the worse. 

In 1999, Kristy w as involved in a life-altering car accident, she tells me over coffee. The accident triggered years of turmoil. She started drinking heavily, got married at 20 years old, got divorced a year later, got married again in 2007, gave birth to a son and daughter, and, in 2015, got divorced for a second time. 

Over the next four years, Kristy poured her energy into her work at a local car dealership and into her children. She also focused on herself by seeking help with her drinking. It was a decision which would open doors for her that she didn’t know were there. 

“I found a spirituality that I was always missing,” she recalls. “Through the journey of getting sober, I got to really look at myself, and I got to start rewriting my story.” 

Inspired by family and friends, Kristy Forpahl longed to take ownership of her life and chase a passion of her own. The best way to do so, she concluded, was to go back to school. 

A friend of Kristy’s handed her a brochure for the WNY Women’s Foundation’s MOMs program, through which she connected with Mayra Lopez-Perez, who works with single mothers seeking degrees at Erie Community College. 

“Mayra reached out to me about a group of single moms that got together every two weeks,” says Kristy. “It was so nice to hear that other moms were going through the same experience. I had this perception that ‘I’m the only single mom going to school.’ And that’s just not true.” 

Indeed, that’s the purpose of the MOMs program: to remind single mothers like Kristy that they’re not alone, that they’re in control, and that whether they’re looking for passion, resources and skills, or stability, they can achieve it. 

Sheri Scavone points to a 2014 article in The Atlantic magazine, titled “The Confidence Gap,” when discussing her vision for the MOMs program. “Confidence matters as much as competence,” declared the article’s authors, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. 

The program, Scavone stresses, is about giving single mothers the same opportunities for economic mobility and sustainability that are afforded to others. It’s also about changing the system by opening it up to the least privileged. When a member of any marginalized or overlooked community gets an opportunity to find their footing, Scavone believes, they’ll pave the way for the rest. 

“It’s not, ‘What can we do to help these women be successful?’” explains Scavone. “It’s, ‘What can we do to help them be the successes they’re fully capable of being?’ If we can reduce barriers and create opportunity, that’s a movement for a new system.” 

As Kristy Forpahl approaches her projected graduation date from the University at Buffalo, in late 2022, she’s considering what her life might soon look like. 

“I think I want to get involved with domestic violence prevention and resources,” she says. “But I think the door is wide open. As I take more classes, I can really decide, ‘Okay, this is not the area I want to be in. This is where I’m feeling most passionate.’” 

Kristy’s story is one of the thousands of singular stories that make up the larger, shared story of the single mother. 

Her experience gives us a sense for what the world might look like when every single mother–every single parent, for that matter, as well as each of their children–has access to the education and economic opportunity they need to reach their potential. 

That’s the world Sheri Scavone, the WNY Women’s Foundation, and their donors are facilitating; it’s the world mothers everywhere can and will build.

More about the WNY Women’s Foundation MOMs program is at wnywomensfoundation.org.