With this report, the Civil Rights Project opened up an important area of research, focusing on the issues affecting working single mothers. The work was commissioned by the Eleanor Foundation of Chicago.

Three-fourths of African American children, about half of Latino children and more than a fourth of white children in the U.S. are born to single mothers.

“The shameful lack of basic support for these mothers, and the ways in which inaccurate stereotypes about them have been used to justify cutting away the social safety net and educational opportunities deepen the social and economic crisis in many American communities,” author Orfield states. “It is urgent that civil rights researchers and advocates focus attention on this challenge and that our national leaders provide some of the basic supports available in other advanced societies.”

The report, entitled “The Future Depends on Single Moms,” is attached, along with the press advisory issued by the Eleanor Foundation.