When we talk about wealth, we usually talk about what people have: money in the bank, property, investments, businesses, and assets that can eventually be passed down. But wealth begins long before any of those things. It begins with having a real opportunity to build.
For a mother trying to change the financial trajectory of her family, that opportunity can mean education, stable housing, dependable childcare, a career with room to grow, and enough support to keep moving when life becomes difficult.
That is what makes the work happening at Jeremiah Program Rochester Southeast Minnesota important to the conversation about wealth and power. Jeremiah Program works with single mothers and their children with a mission of disrupting the cycle of poverty two generations at a time. The organization has served Rochester since 2016 through a model that invests in mothers while also investing in their children.
A Mother Should Not Have to Choose
For a single mother pursuing higher education, success is rarely as simple as registering for classes and showing up. There may be work schedules, children, transportation, childcare, tuition, household expenses, and the unexpected emergencies that can disrupt even the best plan.
Jeremiah Program’s approach recognizes those realities. Its model combines education and career support with coaching, leadership development, early childhood education, community, and stable housing for eligible families. The goal is not to build a woman’s future for her. She is already doing that work. The support helps create a stronger foundation from which she can build.
That distinction matters. Women experiencing poverty do not lack ambition, intelligence, or dreams. What they may lack is room for something to go wrong. When a family is already stretched financially, one car repair, one childcare disruption, or one unexpected bill can threaten months of progress.
The Numbers Represent Real Families
According to Jeremiah Program’s 2025 Rochester Southeast Minnesota Impact Report, 102 mothers and 169 children engaged in its two generation program supports during 2025. The organization reports that 45 families secured stable, affordable housing on its Rochester campus, 53 children accessed its Child Development Center, and mothers participated in more than 1,800 coaching sessions focused on college, career, and whole family guidance. The report also states that 35 mothers earned GPAs of 3.0 or higher.
Those numbers tell us the size of the work, but not the entire story. A GPA does not show how many nights a mother studied after putting her children to bed. A housing statistic cannot explain what stability feels like to a mother trying to raise a family while earning a degree. The data tells us how many families were reached. The women behind those numbers tell us why it matters.
Education Can Change the Economics of a Family
Education alone does not guarantee wealth, and college is not the only pathway to economic mobility. But education can expand choices. A degree or credential can open doors to careers, professional networks, greater earning potential, and opportunities that may have previously been out of reach.
Jeremiah Program reports that 88 percent of mothers in its Rochester program said coaching was helping them progress toward their educational goals in 2025. That progress can become part of something much larger. Education can lead to stronger employment. Stronger employment can create greater stability. Greater stability can make saving, homeownership, entrepreneurship, and investing more possible.
That is where education becomes part of the wealth building conversation.
Two Generations Are Building
The children are not waiting on the sidelines while their mothers build. They are part of the investment too.
According to the 2025 Rochester impact report, 111 children participated in funded summer enrichment opportunities, and Jeremiah Program invested $9,200 in 529 college savings accounts for participating children.
Think about what that represents. A mother can be pursuing her own education while an investment is simultaneously being made toward her child’s future education. One generation is working toward greater opportunity today while another is being positioned for opportunity tomorrow.
Children are also watching. They see their mothers study, work, set goals, recover from setbacks, and continue moving forward. That matters because generational wealth is not only about transferring money. We also pass down knowledge, expectations, relationships, confidence, exposure, and an understanding of what is possible.
Building People Builds Communities
This issue of Rochester Women Magazine celebrates Builders of Wealth & Power: Women constructing empires that shift industries and elevate communities. But an empire does not always look like a corporation or a name on a building.
Sometimes a woman is building a degree, a career, a stable home, financial security, and a different starting point for her children.
That is why Jeremiah Program’s work belongs in this conversation. The women still have to attend the classes, raise their children, make difficult decisions, pursue opportunities, and keep going when life gets hard. A program can provide resources and support, but the women themselves are doing the building.
And we do not have to wait until someone becomes wealthy to recognize that wealth building has begun. Sometimes it begins with stability. Sometimes it begins in a classroom. Sometimes it begins with childcare that allows a mother to get to that classroom. Sometimes it begins with money placed in a child’s college account and a mother deciding that where her family started will not determine where it finishes.
Because when we invest in a mother’s ability to build, we are not changing only one life. We are helping change the foundation the next generation gets to build from.
Source: Jeremiah Program, 2025 Impact Report: Rochester Southeast Minnesota. Statistics are reported by Jeremiah Program.
