Serving Single Parents Since 1995
Parenting is too important a responsibility to bear alone, yet all too often single mothers are forced to do just that.
Because we believe that effective parenting leads to successful, well-adjusted children, Single Mothers Outreach scaffolds families facing sudden housing instability, income loss, emotional trauma, and social deterioration as the result of divorce, abandonment, or widowhood.
With a mission to “empower single parents and their children by providing hope, support, and resources so families can become self-sustaining,” Single Mothers Outreach (SMO) helps single parents find jobs, get educated, stabilize their children’s emotional state, manage finances, and help one another.
Single Mothers Outreach is a grassroots organization originally founded in 1995 by a divorcee who sought peer support from other single mothers. In 1998, the agency acquired its 501(c) (3) nonprofit status, and it opened its storefront office in Canyon Country in 2002.
After serving single mothers for over a decade, the Board of Directors began to question the drop-in service model, which often only provided emergency services to stabilize families in crisis.
In November 2007, the Board began a major reorganization to improve the quality and range of services SMO provides. Shortly after, SMO replaced its Executive Director with DaAnne Smith, and drastically expanded its services to move into the center of social service partnerships in the region.
In May 2013 SMO moved to Savia Community Partnership along with the Domestic Violence Center of Santa Clarita and A Light of Hope so that our organizations can work together to help families in crisis.
This beautiful new facility was underwritten by the members of Real Life Church, allowing our organizations to save money on overhead costs, which allow us to use more of our financial resources for serving families.
In February 2013 SMO opened Closet on Main to help raise funds for organizational sustainability, reducing our dependence on special events, connecting our community to our mission through their clothing donations and volunteerism, and providing a beautiful place for our families to shop and receive free clothing.
Our dream is to start small businesses that employ our single parents, many of them with employment challenges due to the effects of domestic violence or families who struggle with disabilities (either their own or their child's). We also seek organizational sustainability.
For more information on Single Mothers Outreach please visit our website.
