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DALLAS TWP. — Misericordia University assembled an impressive array of experts and government officials for Wednesday’s Pathways out of Poverty conference on campus, but grad Asia Thompson put a deeply personal face on the notion at the heart of the all-day event: Helping single parents succeed.

A success story from Misericordia’s Women With Children program for single mothers, Thompson highlighted her struggles to a crowd in the Lemmond Theater: struggling to survive with two children on $400 a month sharing a mattress top as a bed, warmed by a space heater.

“The electricity was cut off. The hot water was cut off,” She recounted, “we spent every night in the car with the heat running.”

Things got so bad she remember her son asked “what happened to you?”

“Where did my dreams break?” she asked herself at the time.

Then she got into the Misericordia program, providing housing and extensive support while women earn their college degrees. “When I moved to campus housing, It was the first moment of safety I had since seventh grade. Here I learned to have a dream, here I learned to have a voice.”

Wolf has proposed $5 million to support up to seven partnerships to implement similar programs for single parents. He recently toured Misericordia’s program and touted its success as one reason he is championing such efforts.

Wednesday’s conference, held in partnership with Aetna Better Health, included participation from state Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller, Department of Education Secretary Pedro Rivera and Deputy Secretary/Commissioner of Post-Secondary and Higher Education Noe Ortega. Others who benefited from the university’s Women With Children program spoke as well, along with Misericordia President Tom Botzman and Aetna Better Health CEO Jason Rottman.

There was much talk of well-designed program with steady funding streams and the importance of putting oneself in the shoes of those being helped, but little could top stories like Thompson’s for effectiveness in getting the point across.

She recounted words she had written in a journal as a youngster describing her feelings: “Broke, alone, abused, scared, silent.” Then offered the new description of the self she sees after the help Misericordia afforded: “Mother, college graduate, advocate, volunteer lobbyist, part of a community, loud, vocal, and soon to be a lawyer.”

She praised the program that spanned her move from seemingly-insurmountable poverty to a legal career.

“I am the face of that bridge.”

Misericordia University Women With Children program graduate Asia Thomson talks about her shift from homelessness with two children to the brink of becoming a lawyer during the school’s Pathways Out of Poverty Conference on Wednesday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_20190522_140657.jpg.optimal.jpgMisericordia University Women With Children program graduate Asia Thomson talks about her shift from homelessness with two children to the brink of becoming a lawyer during the school’s Pathways Out of Poverty Conference on Wednesday. Mark Guydish | Times Leader

By Mark Guydish

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Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish