Climb Wyoming is turning 40. The statewide organization provides free job training and mental health support for low-income single moms, all with the goal of breaking cycles of intergenerational poverty.
Climb was founded in 1986 by psychologist Dr. Ray Fleming Dinneen and her mother. The 12-week program uses a holistic, trauma-informed approach as well as a cohort model to combat loneliness and help build social capital. Participants receive individual and group counseling, as well as training for positions like nursing assistants or truck drivers.
The nonprofit now has locations in Rock Springs, Laramie, Cheyenne, Jackson, Gillette and Casper, and has supported over 12,000 moms and 25,000 kids over the last four decades.
“ If you put that group of people in one room, we become Wyoming's third-largest community,” said CEO Katie Hogarty. “When you think about the work that Climb has done to really impact poverty across the state, it is significant.”
After graduation, the organization follows up with participants every three months for two years to get a gauge on its impact on things like wages, family stability and benefit reduction. As part of its 40th year, Climb has also been checking back in with folks who went through the training over a decade ago.
“ We have a responsibility to go back and to learn from moms that have graduated the program over 10 years ago,” said Hogarty. “We were really excited to connect with moms and hear their experiences, and learn from that: What's worked in their lives, where do we have areas to grow the program?”
While that longitudinal study isn't a formalized research project, the organization plans to share more of its findings in the year ahead.
Khara LeDoux went through Climb back in 2012 in Casper when her two sons were very young, and moved back to town specifically for the training. She specialized in welding, but emphasized that came away with a lot more than the hands-on skills.
“ They even did financial literacy. It wasn't just about welding,” said LeDoux. “It was about the whole person and taking care of every aspect, like parenting classes.”
After graduation, LeDoux was placed at a new job at a local machine shop, where she spent the next 12 years helping to make race car parts.
“The confidence that I had to do things on my own grew exponentially,” she said. “I never thought that I would even be able to own a home, much less get one on my own.”
These days, LeDoux makes twice what she made when she first graduated from the program back in 2012. She recently switched into sales for a Wyoming-based internet provider, to have more flexibility to support her teenage boys in their after-school sports, and got connected to the position through the Climb network.
“ [Climb] gave me the opportunity to better my life and my kids' lives,” she said. “Since then, I've grown as a person and I'm able to give back to the community. I love that I am in a position where I can give back.”
LeDoux is now on the board of the Science Zone, Casper’s science museum, and also volunteers at Meals-on-Wheels every week.
“ I'm trying to raise my kids to be the same way. Teenage boys are a little harder to get to volunteer than they were when they were eight, but they know it's a part of life,” she said, laughing.
LeDoux makes a point to go to the monthly lunches that the nonprofit hosts for graduates. For her, a big long-term benefit of the program has been the camaraderie and connections with other Climb moms.
“If I find out a business hires Climb moms, I love that so much,” she said. “I just wanted to point out how cool it is to know other moms who graduated 10 years after me, but we both share the same experience, even if it wasn't shared together.”
CEO Hogarty said that a big strength of Climb is its hyperlocal approach and its efforts to provide trainings that are in demand in each particular area. Most recently, that’s looked like thinking about how artificial intelligence is affecting workplaces and planning ahead for jobs catered towards data centers.
“ We're really connected with employers and thinking about what's happening right now,” she said. “How is that not just a job for right now, but how is that a ladder into a longer term career?”
Hogarty emphasized that Climb provides moms with a springboard to change the direction of their lives, but that it’s the individuals who make the leap.
“ Climb opens the door for them to find their footing and to really leverage their own careers and their own strengths, and we're really proud to be part of creating opportunities,” she said. “It's really talented moms that take the bull by the horns and walk through, walk through that door and make their careers their own.”
Climb will host a 40th anniversary gathering on Sept. 17 at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center in Laramie to celebrate the women, families, communities and employers who’ve been part of the organization’s journey.
