An revolutionary program that breaks the grip of generational poverty is celebrating a quarter-century of service.

The Jeremiah Program began small, with its initial program launched in Minneapolis in 1998.

Today this system has expanded to 9 cities, including St. Paul and Rochester in Minnesota. Its success has given it a national reach that extends to thriving Jeremiah Programs in Fargo, Las Vegas, Boston, Baltimore, Brooklyn, and Austin, Texas.

Some 3,000 families have been transformed through the Jeremiah Program’s approach, which emphasizes education to vary the fates, fortunes, and futures of single moms and their children.

“The Jeremiah Program is a university persistence and workforce development program. We use a holistic approach to assist single moms,” explained Karla Benson Ruttan, executive director of Jeremiah Program St. Paul.

“It’s a two-generation approach. We help mothers get their education and a profession to maneuver them out of generational poverty and into generational wealth constructing. We all know that when we will remove some barriers for mothers to get their education, the youngsters see, that is what we do.”

Earlier this month, the Jeremiah Project celebrated its twenty fifth birthday with “The Bash,” a sparkling gala on the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel at The Depot. A record-setting crowd of 650 corporate sponsors, partners, supporters, and volunteers raised almost $800,000 to support the nonprofit’s mission.

Along with supporting the pursuit of school degrees for its participants, the Jeremiah Program offers family coaching, empowerment and leadership training, profession navigation, mentoring, and a supportive community of staff and peers.

“We now have a sisterhood of girls who’re working hard,” Ruttan said. “They’re good, they’re talented. They simply need opportunities,  access, and social capital.”

To learn more in regards to the Jeremiah Project and to donate online, go to JeremiahProgram.org.