Asia Jackson, 23, is scheduled to earn her associate's degree this month from Community College of Allegheny County and hopes to land a job perhaps as an accounting clerk or administrative assistant.

Down the road, she'd love to pursue foreign language studies and become a translator.

Unlike many grads preparing to strike out for the first time, Ms. Jackson has been on her own much of her life. Her primary goal now is to find a job to help support two sons, ages 3 years and 19 months, and build a life for them that is in stark contrast to the childhood she survived.

She describes her early years as a series of "back and forth" stops between parents, including a drug-addicted mother who left when she was very young. After graduating from Carrick High School in 2004, Ms. Jackson enrolled at La Roche College but dropped out after one semester in part because she couldn't afford it and had no financial help from her parents. Then she moved in with a man who fathered her two children before that relationship soured and she found herself close to destitute and living with her brother.

Just as her fears started to escalate that she and her sons might land in a temporary shelter, Ms. Jackson heard from a friend about the Heart House Program of Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Heart House places homeless, single women with young children in transitional housing and provides resources -- including career, education and financial counseling and training -- to help them become self-sufficient.

Ms. Jackson secured a spot in the program in January 2008 and moved into a Heart House apartment on the South Side with her oldest child, Antonio. Aidan was born four months later.

That year, she enrolled at CCAC and picked up work-study jobs to help with expenses. She receives federal aid for the children through the state-administered Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. About one-third of her income goes toward rent for an apartment in a converted house that has other transitional units for women in the Heart House program.

While Ms. Jackson takes classes and works, the boys go to a day care center Downtown. She has been working through the steps of a plan that Goodwill developed for her to help her achieve her goal of living on her own.

"We do an individualized plan for each family at Heart House," said Trudy Friend, program manager, who works one-on-one with participants. One of the agency's top objectives is to help the women develop "a career path rather than just a job" so they can stay independent for the long term, she said.

Ms. Jackson credits the Heart House program and the support she has received, especially from Ms. Friend, with providing a focus for her life and future.

"I bounced around a lot, and that created instability. I didn't have a mother figure growing up. With my real mother, I was the mother and she was the kid."

Though Ms. Jackson's two-year transition plan will end in January, Goodwill has agreed to extend her housing contract until she finds a job.

For Christmas, Ms. Jackson will stay home with her two boys and plans to hang holiday lights and perhaps put up a small tree. Some of her siblings may visit. Antonio would be thrilled to receive Thomas the Tank Engine trains and Aidan likes books that make noise, she said.

Because Ms. Jackson has limited cash to spend, Goodwill has recommended that her children receive toys through the Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots program supported by the Post-Gazette Goodfellows.

The Goodfellows Fund was founded in 1947 so that no children go without toys during the holidays. To make a tax-deductible donation, use the coupon in today's newspaper or go online to www.post-gazette.com/goodfellows.

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