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Support to Single Parents Inc. offers three-year program to help women launch own business

Michelle Salloum wants to know what her options are.

A single mother of a special-needs child, she hasn't worked full-time in nearly 10 years.

Instead, she chooses to put all of her time and effort into the development of her autistic seven-year-old son.

Salloum, who has an income of about $18,000 a year, survives on support from the Department of Social Services, but she doesn't want to live on that assistance for the rest of her life, and hopes a new program launched yesterday for marginalized women will provide her with the know-how to start her own business in Metro Moncton.

"I'd like to make a living where I can do something I enjoy," said Salloum, a Moncton resident. "Because if you enjoy something, it doesn't feel like work and, that way, I can have the energy and the time to help my son become all that he can be,"

The Co-operative Enterprise Development Program for women in Metro Moncton, backed by $300,000 in funding from the federal government's Status of Women Canada and administered by Support to Single Parents Inc., will provide free business training and mentoring for 'priority women,' those classified as "low income, single mothers, immigrants, off-reserve First Nations, physical or mentally challenged, victims of violence and former offenders."

The goal of the program is to guide participants through a four-stage, three-year project that will teach personal and enterprise development skills with an end goal of allowing them to start up their own business venture.

It will include courses ranging from time management to bookkeeping and financial reporting.

Nancy Hartling, executive director of Support to Single Parents Inc., said, so far, the poverty reduction initiative has received a warm response from the business community.

"I think Moncton is right for community economic development," said Hartling. "It's growing a lot and I think the economy here is ripe for new ideas."

The program will require 25 hours a week from participants.

Between 10 and 15 women will be admitted every six months.

The program will also address the additional needs of women in situations like Salloum, who have children or lack transportation.

For Salloum, a former nurse, the program is an opportunity for her to pursue something she would otherwise never get the chance to do.

"They're going to teach you what the needs are to set up a business," she said. "They have mentors who have been in business, who can help you along the way because, right now, I don't have the information and I wouldn't know where to begin."

Hartling said she expects the program to be in full swing by the end of September.