Tom Aley and Darr Aley, two former Dow Jones executives, have launched a social venture designed to address issues facing single mothers who are poverty-stricken in the United States.  Moms and Jobs, aka MoJo, is for-profit company that provides sustainable employment opportunities, complete coverage of childcare, and career development for single mothers in the apparel manufacturing sector.

Social Venture ‘MoJo’ to Aid Underprivileged Women

The economics of a single-parent family mean that single mothers are disproportionately represented among the poor. Among U.S. households headed by single mothers, 33% live below the poverty line, compared to 12% of male-headed families. Women with dependent children comprise two-thirds of the poor population. A major part of the problem is that daycare costs for even one child can consume the majority of a woman’s salary, making it feel difficult to justify returning to the workforce from a personal and financial standpoint.

“Our goal is to build a company to help stamp out homelessness and eradicate poverty,” said Tom Aley, Founder and Co-Chairman of Moms and Jobs.  ”We’ll do this by providing sustainable employment and opportunities to those most impacted by these problems – underprivileged women.”

To date MoJo has employed 15 under-privileged mothers at their new 8,000 square foot facility in Lowell, MA.  The company has plans to increase employees to 300-500 by the end of 2011 and will open a new facility in Northern California. MoJo is also integrating an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, where every one of the employees will be owners. MoJo takes 50% of its profit from sales of the products to help finance these and other benefits. Most of the other half is used to hire new employees.

MoJo markets and sells apparel products and jewelry to retailers, corporations (logo-wear), and colleges as well as through its web site, www.momsandjobs.com.  MoJo currently has approximately 20 corporate merchandising customers, including Accenture, Morgan Stanley, and State Street Bank along with a growing number of participating colleges that include Syracuse University, University of Cincinnati, University of Pittsburg, Northeastern University, and University of New Hampshire.