Bucking the trend_ Upward mobility possible with community resources - Feature Story, Local News - The Sheridan Press
1. 8/18/2016 Bucking the trend: Upward mobility possible with community resources - Feature Story, Local News - The Sheridan Press
http://thesheridanpress.com/?p=41303 1/5
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Tara Schultz, right, listens to her youngest Brekyn
Schultz, 4, Friday at the Schultz’s apartment. Schultz
has overcome the odds laid against her as a product
of a low income, single parent family. She is
currently a single parent of three but has a steady
job, a home of her own and recently graduated from
Bucking the trend: Upward mobility possible with
community resources
Cassidy Belus
August 28, 2015
SHERIDAN —
In February
2012, Tara
Schultz found
herself as a
single mother
to three
young
children, the
oldest not
even hitting
double digits
yet.
Her husband,
at rst they
were
separated
and then
divorced,
moved out.
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2. 8/18/2016 Bucking the trend: Upward mobility possible with community resources - Feature Story, Local News - The Sheridan Press
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job, a home of her own and recently graduated from
Sheridan College. Justin Sheely | The Sheridan Press
moved out.
She had
spent the last
seven years out of the workforce as a stay-at-home mom, and it had
been 17 years since she was in school.
Statistically, the outcome predicted that Schultz would continue to
struggle and her children would grow up in poverty.
In Wyoming, 18,000 children are living in hardship. Of that total, 809
live in Sheridan County, according to the 2015 research published by
the Sheridan County Tripartite Board.
Most of those children are expected to stay poor as they grow into
adulthood. However, Sheridan County helps buck that trend for some.
A number of factors that exist in the county give children, their parents
and adults in general the ability to climb out of poverty.
In a recent study conducted by The Equality of Opportunity Project,
Sheridan County ranks better than 94 percent of counties nationwide
for possible upward income mobility. In fact, the study said, “It ranks
better for poor children than it does for rich children.”
While rich children are projected to make more money than their
parents, kids in poverty often are projected to make less. In Sheridan,
though, poor children have more opportunities to climb the income
ladder. According to the study, based on a number of factors, children
in poverty can increase their incomes by $4,750, while their richer
counterparts only expect to see a $1,670 addition.
The increase in income over time doesn’t mean that children make
their way out of poverty, necessarily, but it does improve their
situations.
Schultz, herself a child of a single mother, grew up in a tough nancial
situation in the 1980s in Sheridan. There were fewer resources
available to help. Her mother made “ends meet,” Schultz said, but it
wasn’t easy.
For her situation to echo her mother’s isn’t usual. However, Schultz
made a decision that drastically changed the predicted trajectory of her
life and her children’s.
In January 2013, Schultz started her rst semester of college.
“The most recent reports show an absolute linear progression —
straight up, linear progression — between education and income and it
doesn’t change,” said Samin Dadelahi, CEO of the Wyoming Community
Foundation. “The more people that we can get to understand [the
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3. 8/18/2016 Bucking the trend: Upward mobility possible with community resources - Feature Story, Local News - The Sheridan Press
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Foundation. “The more people that we can get to understand [the
importance of early childhood education] and that we can get
educated, the better o our kids are going to be.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, dropouts make $180 less a
week than high school graduates, and $304 a week less than an
individual with an associate’s degree. That number jumps to $613 less
per week when compared to a graduate with a bachelor’s degree. All of
this is based in 2014 dollars.
Not only will Schultz’s decision to go to college increase the likelihood
that her children will attend, but it also increases her job potential and
possible income.
Education is one of ve factors listed by The Equality of Opportunity
Project that in uence upwards mobility. The other four are: low income
and race segregation, low levels of income inequality, low crime rates
and a high percentage of two-parent households.
Sheridan County does well in several of those categories. Compared to
national statistics, Sheridan has relatively low crime rates. The
percentage of children living in single-parent homes — 35 percent — is
on par with the national average. Regarding race, Sheridan County is
more than 95 percent white. African American individuals make up
only 1.2 percent of the county’s population, and Native Americans only
make up 1.4 percent.
In May, Schultz graduated with her degree in criminal justice.
“Walking across the stage to get my diploma with my kids watching was
the greatest,” she said. “That moment is forever fresh in my mind.”
Getting there was possible, in part, due to community resources and
support.
With two children in grade school, Schultz was able to attend classes
while her kids were in school. However, the youngest, about 4 years old
at the time, went to day care, where the two older kids would show up
after school.
This was only a ordable due to day care assistance, a nancial service
provided by some facilities to cushion the cost.
Schultz also got a job through work-study while attending school and
used food stamps to provide meals for her children.
Community support, Schultz said, made a huge di erence in being able
to nish school and support her children.
She received help from the nonpro t Sheridan Angels, which provided
clothes for her kids and basic necessities like laundry detergent and
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