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by ivv 4305 days ago
>>"I'm not fool enough to believe I can solve (eg) poor single mothers' problems in this country with an app."

I've recently done research specifically on this topic, and here are three of single moms' many problems that probably could be solved with an app:

- Training for a job

- Reliable (as in timely and as in not about to fall apart) transportation to a job

- Childcare so that she can attend a job

2 comments

I have personal experience with this from working with multiple single mothers while working retail as a starving student and the most effective way to get single mothers out of poverty is to get rid of the single part of their description. Patching the symptoms temporarily didn't seem to help much.

I'm not talking about some retroactive guilt shaming idiocy or a very niche dating website (although I've seen that work...) just from personal observation one chick and one kid in one apartment is just doomed, absolutely doomed, but you get three of them in a house having each others back and watching each others kids when they have to, and they get somewhere, at least better than the one trying to go it alone. And from direct personal observation, usually way the heck too much interpersonal "reality TV show" class of drama. Maybe the key is fixing the drama, somehow.

I know this sounds hideously 2009-ish but a social network for single moms is probably not the worst idea ever. Once you organize them, your list of three problems kind of takes care of itself.

Precisely that: a way to pool resources plus a bridge loan to cover a year of mortgage payments that are now her sole responsibility following a divorce.
Lets be fair, none of these things are solved with an app. An app, however, could facilitate better solutions.