Ashley O

Ashley is twenty-three and the mother of a two-year-old boy. She was attending community college when her son was born, but was forced to pull out of her final semester a month early because of problems obtaining child care.  She explains, “I was like three or four weeks short of finishing that semester and I couldn’t because I couldn’t find anybody else to keep watching my son while waiting for a child care subsidy to kick in.  I did this in December so that I could have my baby in day care in January.  I went the whole semester  with no day care.”  Because Ashley had to pay for that semester even though she didn’t finish, she now has outstanding loans that make re-enrolling very difficult.  She is looking for a job—any job—that will pay her enough to get off welfare and go back to school.  She is bilingual, well-educated and has a passion to work for change in her community.  Without a degree the only job that she has found is waiting tables, for which she receives less than minimum wage.
 
Ashley and her son receive food stamps, but the food that they are able to buy doesn’t last throughout the month.  Her son is now in day care and Ashley is grateful for that  because the day care provides him with meals and snacks that she can't always give him at home.  She is frustrated and saddened by what she describes as “the worst feeling in the world”—not being able to feed her son when he is hungry.