Motherhood was never meant to be done alone—and a mother’s dreams shouldn’t depend on whether she can find childcare that works with her children’s schedules.
I want people to understand that the only way this works is if we help each other. There is no way around it. Everybody needs a community. Everybody needs somebody. Having the mindset that you don’t need anybody is unrealistic. If I see a single mom in the store trying to get groceries while her baby is crying, I’m going to ask, “What do you need me to do?” We have to learn how to lend a helping hand.
Christy’s story reveals how America’s care system relies on women to shoulder impossible responsibilities with too little support.
“If I had more financial stability, it would help a lot. It would help with food, the kids and the pressure of trying to keep everything together. Even a little more would give me some room to breathe. When I’m not so stressed, I can focus more on caring for my mom and helping my children. That is what I do every day.”
As the United States continues in its 250th year, another question has to be asked: what would it mean to repair the systemic conditions that Black women are too often forced to endure, navigate, and transform for generations?
This question sits at the heart of Making Joy Possible, a new poll from The Highland Project, brilliant corners Research & Strategies, and Springboard to Opportunities focused on Black women voters in Mississippi.
The findings are clear. Black women in Mississippi are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of the country and the economy. Nearly nine in 10 are dissatisfied with the country’s direction, and 90 percent say economic conditions are getting worse. A majority say their wages are falling behind the cost of living, and 44 percent say they experience racism and discrimination often. And still, 75 percent say they are highly motivated to participate in the 2026 midterms.
The poll also tells a deeper story: Black women in Mississippi know what wholeness requires, what is breaking it—and what must be repaired.
The MMT is an initiative from Springboard to Opportunities, a non-profit organization that Aisha Nyandoro, from Mississippi, co-founded in 2013. Springboard works directly with families who live in federally supported affordable housing in Jackson. Nyandoro calls it a “radically resident-driven approach”.
But by 2017, Nyandoro became concerned that Springboard wasn’t moving the needle enough on poverty. Though the organization has after-school programs, workforce development, reading circles and other programing, she started wondering what else they needed to offer.
A chance conversation with a mother put her on a new path.
Mississippi is one of a dozen states where the end of the school year can mean the start of a serious food shortage for families who depend on school meals, due to state leaders opting out of a federal program meant to feed hungry kids when they’re home during the summer. Springboard to Opportunities is helping to close that gap with direct cash assistance for families after the state again opted out of the SUN Bucks program.
Policy choices have real consequences for families — and while community-based solutions can support when systems fall short — the real solution is sustained, federal support: hunger does not fall on state or party lines.
“Living in Mississippi taught me how much wisdom exists in communities that are often underestimated. That understanding has shaped every aspect of my work.”
