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A single mom started a nonprofit to help other single moms and now adidas is honoring her

Jaycina Almond is a model, writer, and single mom making an impact on her community.

Courtesy of Jaycina Almond

A single mom built a nonprofit to help other single moms. She's now being honored by adidas.

Being a single mom is hard work no matter how you got there (in vitro fertilization, a breakup, or being widowed). If you don't have the increasingly elusive village nearby to assist, it can make the solo parenting experience extremely difficult. Add in being of lower socioeconomic status and you've got a recipe for overwhelm and burnout while trying to make ends meet.

Jaycina Almond is a model, writer, and single mom who has taken it upon herself to impact her community by helping other single moms. The model became a single mom at the young age of 20, which caused her to notice the lack of resources available to those in her position. Her experience in early single motherhood is what sparked her passion for making a difference by creating the nonprofit, The Tender Foundation.

The Tender Foundation is comprised of some of the things Almond herself would've greatly benefited from when she was first starting out as a single mom. For those without a village, the Foundation can serve as that safety net for women in the Atlanta area.

Jaycina Almond, family, portrait, adidas Honoree, honorAlmond and family. Courtesy of Jaycina Almond

Almond tells Upworthy how she chose the programs for Tender Foundation, saying, "Tender initially started with just one program: emergency bill pay assistance for rent, utilities, and childcare costs. That program was inspired by my own experiences, what my peers were going through, extensive research, and a strong desire to support moms like me. The rest of our programming evolved in response to what our families told us they needed. During COVID, we started delivering diapers, wipes, and formula—and that grew into our full-scale Diaper Bank because it was something families truly relied on."

Childcare costs can be astronomical, especially in large cities like Atlanta. The Tender Foundation doesn't stop there, though. They even have a guaranteed income program called The Bridge that provides a monthly $500 stipend to 25 single Black moms in the Atlanta metro area. According to Almond, it's a program that was co-designed with the mothers they serve.

mothers, single mothers, motherhood, community, childcare, assistanceA mother and daughter hug. Photo by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash

Almond shares with Upworthy, "While there are eligibility requirements for some programs, we prioritize trust-based solutions that are simple and dignified. For example, with our Diaper Bank, you don’t even need to be a single mom—we believe all babies should have access to clean diapers. For our other programs, the main criteria are being a single mom with financial need living in the metro Atlanta area."

To some, it may seem exclusionary for The Tender Foundation to focus mainly on Black single moms, but there's a good reason for it. Statistics show that 28% of single mothers live in poverty and nearly 50% of Black moms are single parents.

"The work we do is special to me because everyday I experience women who look like me making ends meet despite the odds being stacked against them! Our mamas have been stretching and maneuvering their money way before we started this work—we just want to make it a bit easier. Building friendships with our mamas, getting parenting advice, and comparing notes about our children—all these little things make it special," Almond says.

Jaycina Almond, family, smiling, single mothers, adidas HonoreeAlmond with her family. Courtesy of Jaycina Almond

While she loves what she does, she knows there are stereotypes single Black moms are up against and it's something she wishes she could change. "I think one of the biggest stereotypes for Black single moms, poor Black single moms specifically, is the “welfare queen” trope. That we are irresponsible, promiscuous, negligent parents, and that being poor is an individual failing."

The wealth gap for Black families has always been a large one, while different racial and ethnic groups in America have made gains financially, the gap remains wide. According to Pew Research, in 2021, the average white household held 9.2 times as much wealth as the average Black household. This is contributed to systemic issues and lack of generational wealth. These figures support Almond's experience with seeing more single Black moms living in poverty, driving her determination to help.

Thanks to her monumental effort to help single moms in Atlanta, Almond is being recognized as an adidas Honoring Black Excellence Honoree.

mother and daughter, mother, daughter, child, single momsAlmond is being honored by adidas. Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash

The single mom couldn't be prouder of this recognition, telling Upworthy, "Receiving such recognition on such a large scale is so surreal! When you are in the thick of it, there’s always more you feel like you could be and should be doing. I want to make sure all our families stay housed, everybody has enough for groceries this month, all the things right! But being named one of adidas HBE Honorees made me take time to reflect on everything we’ve been able to accomplish, reflect on how my community and my village are the folks who made it possible for me to be where I am today. I’m so grateful to be named one of the honorees for 2025. I’m a Black girl from Kentucky who got pregnant at 20 you know? I’m not supposed to be sitting here having this conversation with you."

Being an adidas Honoree comes along with shooting a short film about all the work she's doing for her community with The Tender Foundation. You can view the video below:

Almond describes the experience of shooting the film, saying, "Honestly, the whole day was great! Working with a majority Black crew and being able to welcome them into my home to share my story—that was something special. I was proud to just be there. I hope after watching, people understand the power of community and community care. I hope even one person is inspired to make an effort to care for the folks around them."

The Tender Foundation comes from a place of love and determination according to the writer. She explains to Upworthy that she wouldn't be doing what she's doing without her experience as a single mother before adding, "My daughter was the reason I worked so hard—I wanted to build something of my own for her."

The single mom has some advice that applies to any single mom out there no matter how motherhood found them. She says, "Don't be afraid to ask for help," —though she admits this is something she still struggles with on occasion, too. Getting into the community mindset of childrearing early can be a life changer.

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The Allstate Foundation
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This teacher is using inclusive coloring books to encourage acceptance in her classroom

Courtesy of Ms. Lopez
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Marcella Lopez didn't always want to be a teacher — but once she became one, she found her passion. That's why she's stayed in the profession for 23 years, spending the past 16 at her current school in Los Angeles, where she mostly teaches children of color.

"I wanted purpose, to give back, to live a life of public service, to light the spark in others to think critically and to be kind human beings," she says. "More importantly, I wanted my students to see themselves when they saw me, to believe they could do it too."

Ms. Lopez didn't encounter a teacher of color until college. "That moment was life-changing for me," she recalls. "It was the first time I felt comfortable in my own skin as a student. Always remembering how I felt in that college class many years ago has kept me grounded year after year."

It's also guided her teaching. Ms. Lopez says she always selects authors and characters that represent her students and celebrate other ethnicities so students can relate to what they read while also learning about other cultures.

"I want them to see themselves in the books they read, respect those that may not look like them and realize they may have lots in common with [other cultures] they read about," she says.

She also wants her students to have a different experience in school than she did.

When Ms. Lopez was in first grade, she "was speaking in Spanish to a new student, showing her where the restroom was when a staff member overheard our conversation and directed me to not speak in Spanish," she recalls. "In 'this school,' we only speak English," she remembers them saying. "From that day forward, I was made to feel less-than and embarrassed to speak the language of my family, my ancestors; the language I learned to speak first."

Part of her job, she says, is to find new ways to promote acceptance and inclusion in her classroom.

"The worldwide movement around social justice following the death of George Floyd amplified my duty as a teacher to learn how to discuss racial equity in a way that made sense to my little learners," she says. "It ignited me to help them see themselves in a positive light, to make our classroom family feel more inclusive, and make our classroom a safe place to have authentic conversations."

One way she did that was by raising money through DonorsChoose to purchase books and other materials for her classroom that feature diverse perspectives.

Courtesy of Ms. Lopez

The Allstate Foundation recently partnered with DonorsChoose to create a Racial Justice and Representation category to encourage teachers like Ms. Lopez to create projects that address racial equity in the classroom. To launch the category, The Allstate Foundation matched all donations to these projects for a total of $1.5 million. Together, they hope to drive awareness and funding to projects that bring diversity, inclusion, and identity-affirming learning materials into classrooms across the country. You can see current projects seeking funding here.

When Ms. Lopez wanted to incorporate inclusive coloring books into her lesson plans, The Allstate Foundation fully funded her project so she was able to purchase them.

"I'm a lifelong learner, striving to be my best version of myself and always working to inspire my little learners to do the same," she says. Each week, Ms. Lopez and the students would focus on a page in the book and discuss its message. And she plans to do the same again this school year.

"DonorsChoose has been a gamechanger for my students. Without the support of all the donors that come together on this platform, we wouldn't have a sliver of what I've been able to provide for my students, especially during the pandemic," she says.

"My passion is to continue striving to be excellent, and to continue to find ways to use literature as an anchor, depicting images that reflect my students," she says.

To help teachers like Ms. Lopez drive this important mission forward, donate on DonorsChoose.

Courtesy of Ms. Lopez

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Tory Burch
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Military spouses often choose their spouse's career over their own. This organization is changing that.

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When Sue Hoppin was in college, she met the man she was going to marry. "I was attending the University of Denver, and he was at the Air Force Academy," she says. "My dad had also attended the University of Denver and warned me not to date those flyboys from the Springs."

"He didn't say anything about marrying one of them," she says. And so began her life as a military spouse.

The life brings some real advantages, like opportunities to live abroad — her family got to live all around the US, Japan, and Germany — but it also comes with some downsides, like having to put your spouse's career over your own goals.

"Though we choose to marry someone in the military, we had career goals before we got married, and those didn't just disappear."

Career aspirations become more difficult to achieve, and progress comes with lots of starts and stops. After experiencing these unique challenges firsthand, Sue founded an organization to help other military spouses in similar situations.

Sue had gotten a degree in international relations because she wanted to pursue a career in diplomacy, but for fourteen years she wasn't able to make any headway — not until they moved back to the DC area. "Eighteen months later, many rejections later, it became apparent that this was going to be more challenging than I could ever imagine," she says.

Eighteen months is halfway through a typical assignment, and by then, most spouses are looking for their next assignment. "If I couldn't find a job in my own 'hometown' with multiple degrees and a great network, this didn't bode well for other military spouses," she says.

She's not wrong. Military spouses spend most of their lives moving with their partners, which means they're often far from family and other support networks. When they do find a job, they often make less than their civilian counterparts — and they're more likely to experience underemployment or unemployment. In fact, on some deployments, spouses are not even allowed to work.

Before the pandemic, military spouse unemployment was 22%. Since the pandemic, it's expected to rise to 35%.

Sue eventually found a job working at a military-focused nonprofit, and it helped her get the experience she needed to create her own dedicated military spouse program. She wrote a book and started saving up enough money to start the National Military Spouse Network (NMSN), which she founded in 2010 as the first organization of its kind.

"I founded the NMSN to help professional military spouses develop flexible careers they could perform from any location."

"Over the years, the program has expanded to include a free digital magazine, professional development events, drafting annual White Papers and organizing national and local advocacy to address the issues of most concern to the professional military spouse community," she says.

Not only was NMSN's mission important to Sue on a personal level she also saw it as part of something bigger than herself.

"Gone are the days when families can thrive on one salary. Like everyone else, most military families rely on two salaries to make ends meet. If a military spouse wants or needs to work, they should be able to," she says.

"When less than one percent of our population serves in the military," she continues, "we need to be able to not only recruit the best and the brightest but also retain them."

"We lose out as a nation when service members leave the force because their spouse is unable to find employment. We see it as a national security issue."

"The NMSN team has worked tirelessly to jumpstart the discussion and keep the challenges affecting military spouses top of mind. We have elevated the conversation to Congress and the White House," she continues. "I'm so proud of the fact that corporations, the government, and the general public are increasingly interested in the issues affecting military spouses and recognizing the employment roadblocks they unfairly have faced."

"We have collectively made other people care, and in doing so, we elevated the issues of military spouse unemployment to a national and global level," she adds. "In the process, we've also empowered military spouses to advocate for themselves and our community so that military spouse employment issues can continue to remain at the forefront."

Not only has NMSN become a sought-after leader in the military spouse employment space, but Sue has also seen the career she dreamed of materializing for herself. She was recently invited to participate in the public re-launch of Joining Forces, a White House initiative supporting military and veteran families, with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

She has also had two of her recommendations for practical solutions introduced into legislation just this year. She was the first in the Air Force community to show leadership the power of social media to reach both their airmen and their military families.

That is why Sue is one of Tory Burch's "Empowered Women" this year. The $5,000 donation will be going to The Madeira School, a school that Sue herself attended when she was in high school because, she says, "the lessons I learned there as a student pretty much set the tone for my personal and professional life. It's so meaningful to know that the donation will go towards making a Madeira education more accessible to those who may not otherwise be able to afford it and providing them with a life-changing opportunity."

Most military children will move one to three times during high school so having a continuous four-year experience at one high school can be an important gift. After traveling for much of her formative years, Sue attended Madeira and found herself "in an environment that fostered confidence and empowerment. As young women, we were expected to have a voice and advocate not just for ourselves, but for those around us."

To learn more about Tory Burch and Upworthy's Empowered Women program visit https://www.toryburch.com/empoweredwomen/. Nominate an inspiring woman in your community today!

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How one self-defense class changed this woman's life forever

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Shanda Lynn Poitra was born and raised on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. She lived there until she was 24 years old when she left for college at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

"Unfortunately," she says, "I took my bad relationship with me. At the time, I didn't realize it was so bad, much less, abusive. Seeing and hearing about abusive relationships while growing up gave me the mentality that it was just a normal way of life."

Those college years away from home were difficult for a lot of reasons. She had three small children — two in diapers, one in elementary school — as well as a full-time University class schedule and a part-time job as a housekeeper.

"I wore many masks back then and clothing that would cover the bruises," she remembers. "Despite the darkness that I was living in, I was a great student; I knew that no matter what, I HAD to succeed. I knew there was more to my future than what I was living, so I kept working hard."

While searching for an elective class during this time, she came across a one-credit, 20-hour IMPACT self-defense class that could be done over a weekend. That single credit changed her life forever. It helped give her the confidence to leave her abusive relationship and inspired her to bring IMPACT classes to other Native women in her community.

I walked into class on a Friday thinking that I would simply learn how to handle a person trying to rob me, and I walked out on a Sunday evening with a voice so powerful that I could handle the most passive attacks to my being, along with physical attacks."

It didn't take long for her to notice the difference the class was making in her life.

"I was setting boundaries and people were either respecting them or not, but I was able to acknowledge who was worth keeping in my life and who wasn't," she says.

Following the class, she also joined a roller derby league where she met many other powerful women who inspired her — and during that summer, she found the courage to leave her abuser.

"As afraid as I was, I finally had the courage to report the abuse to legal authorities, and I had the support of friends and family who provided comfort for my children and I during this time," she says.

A lot of change happened at once. As a newly single mom, she ended up leaving med school and transferring to a tech school to learn a trade. And because she knew what her abuser was capable of, she took a lot of precautions to keep herself and her family safe.

"I worked and studied hard while my children were in daycare and school, spent the evenings cooking & cleaning, and studied again once the children were in bed. After two years of classes, months of clinical rotations, and becoming alumni at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN, I graduated as a Surgical Technologist and began working full-time," she remembers.

"It took a couple of years for my nerves to fully relax, but they finally did. It was so amazing to me how empowering it was to advocate for myself, I never stopped."

She moved back to the reservation in 2015 to work for the health service and to be around family again.

"Within my first week of being home, I noticed so much violence that I once thought was normal behavior," she says. "One morning, I got a phone call notifying me that my childhood friend was beaten and left for dead by her children's father; she was flown out to the nearest ICU and taken in for surgery for a hematoma in her skull."

"I knew something had to be done about this."

Domestic abuse is a big problem on reservations like Shanda's. More than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women and men have experienced violence in their lifetime, and more than one in three experienced violence in the past year.

She spoke with several community members about the violence she was seeing, but she found they were quick to blame the victim. That's when it occurred to her: "What if I started a self-defense class for Native women?" Shanda says. So she called up her former instructor, found a group of instructors, and attended another class with her new team. And from there they founded their own chapter.

"IMPACT is being used all over the world, yet has never been available to Indigenous communities until now," she says. "Currently, our team consists of four core members; two suit instructors and two female lead instructors, all Indigenous members of our Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewas. All members are active in empowering our community in many ways."

"During the closing circles in our workshops, we all get to see the strength and transformation these women worked so hard for. We get to see them take their power back from those who hurt them."

And that is why Shanda is being named one of Tory Burch's "Empowered Women" this year. The $5000 donation will be made to IMPACT to help them bring IMPACT to more indigenous communities across the country and further their mission to help Native women recognize and protect themselves from physical violence.

"Empowering women should be as common as knowing how to perform CPR," Shanda says.

"Truth is, I know what it feels like to be on both sides of empowerment. I know the fear, pain, and humiliation that comes with domestic violence, sexual assault, trauma, and PTSD and I recognize it in my students," she continues.

"I also know what it feels like to step out of that proverbial cage. To be able to breathe freely. To speak freely. To walk the earth in a good and healthy way. I wish this freedom and empowerment for every person on earth."

To learn more about Tory Burch and Upworthy's Empowered Women program visit https://www.toryburch.com/empoweredwomen/. Nominate an inspiring woman in your community today!

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