The Allignment Chapter Is Giving Single Mother’s A Voice During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Ray Nell Jones is a speaker/activist and the CEO/founder of The Allign­ment Chap­ter. The Allign­ment Chap­ter is an ini­tia­tive to help hun­dreds of sin­gle moth­ers, in need of sup­port, who have been affect­ed by COVID-19.

Her 501c3 award win­ning non­prof­it is based in Pitts­burgh, PA and pro­vides eco­nom­i­cal and emo­tion­al relief and resources for low-income sin­gle moth­ers and their chil­dren.

Researchers describe how the impact of COVID-19 is more dis­tress­ing for sin­gle par­ent fam­i­lies than oth­er types of households.In Amer­i­ca today, there are about 13.6 mil­lion sin­gle par­ent house­holds, and 22.4 mil­lion chil­dren being raised in them.

This incred­i­ble sin­gle moth­er wants to help oth­er sin­gle moth­ers shine and is in the per­fect posi­tion to do some­thing about it!

1. You are the CEO/founder of The Allign­ment Chap­ter, an ini­tia­tive to help hun­dreds of sin­gle moth­ers, in need of sup­port, who have been affect­ed by COVID-19.We know you were a sin­gle moth­er at the age of 19, but what was that light­bulb moment that hap­pened which led to the cre­ation of The Allign­ment Chap­ter?

When my lights were shut off and I was study­ing in the dark for my midterm while hold­ing my baby. I remem­ber feel­ing like I was so defeat­ed. In the Sum­mer of 2019 a moth­er exit­ed her vehi­cle while her 4 chil­dren watched and jumped to her death. I knew then I need­ed to make a change and help moth­ers who were suf­fer­ing in silence.

2. What types of resources does The Allign­ment Chap­ter pro­vide for sin­gle moth­ers?

We pro­vide a box of every­day essen­tials such as dia­pers, wipes, bay for­mu­la, fem­i­nine hygiene prod­ucts, house­hold clean­ing items, and a 6 week finan­cial­ly fit course. This course helps edu­cate moms on bud­get­ing, sav­ings, and resume build­ing.

3. What are some pos­i­tive aspects that you feel have birthed since COVID-19/quar­an­tine from a sin­gle mom’s per­spec­tive?

I hon­est­ly have no idea what it feels like to be quar­an­tined because I was out deliv­er­ing box­es to sin­gle moth­ers who had noth­ing from shelf clear­ing. I can say I learned what is need­ed des­per­ate­ly in low income com­mu­ni­ties which are made up of 80% sin­gle moth­ers. Many moth­ers need what we pro­vide which is TRUST and FREE resources to help them rise above pover­ty.

4. What are some tips/advice you could give to our read­ers that have helped you per­son­al­ly make it through this pan­dem­ic as a sin­gle mom?

Yes! We are cur­rent­ly doing our Black HER­sto­ry 365 Series to help sin­gle moms be inspired by our shared sto­ries as Black sin­gle moth­ers. Along­side shar­ing the incred­i­ble tes­ti­monies of women with­in @theallignmentchapter com­mu­ni­ty, we are also shar­ing the resilient sto­ries of oth­er tal­ent­ed influ­en­tial women about the beau­ties, strug­gles and every­thing in between the expe­ri­ences of being a sin­gle moth­er. We are also encour­ag­ing 250 peo­ple to donate $20 to help us pro­vide 20,000 house­hold essen­tial items to sin­gle moth­ers in need.

You can fol­low The Allign­ment Chap­ter on Face­book or Insta­gram. 

Inter­viewed By: Francesca Ellana