PROGRAM PROVIDES CAR LOANS TO SINGLE MOTHERS

Gina Brown, 23, goes to school part time and works full time at Meta House, a residential treatment house for women. Last winter, she said, she was continually late for work because of the bus schedule.

A co-worker told her about Ways to Work, which is operated in Milwaukee through the Social Development Commission. Now she has a 1999 Ford Contour she purchased from a reputable dealer for $3,600. It's in good condition, and not only gets her to work on time but helped her get a promotion and a raise. She's now a family facilitator and parenting assistant because the car allows her to transport clients to medical appointments and help them get their children enrolled in school.

She can also drive her 3-year-old son to Head Start.

"Ways to Work is not the run-of-the-mill handout," she said. "There's lot of stigma for me being lower income and a single mother, but with this you have to work to earn the trust of the board that you will pay them back."

"It makes me feel I am able to do something. Yeah, my credit is bad and yeah, I'm a single mom. But I have a chance."

Read the rest of the article . . .

For more information on cars for single mothers.

Here is a great example of how we could be using more of the micro-credit programs we fund overseas right here at home -- to help our own moms help themselves by starting home business that build on their unique areas of expertise.

And it's a more cost-efficient bail out than for our auto industry.