Seattle's Programs for Moms and Pregnant Women

Seattle is a big city and whether you are a tourist, local resident or planning to move here, there are some free programs and places whether located in Seattle or around nearby.

WIC (Women, Infant, Children) is a well known program for women that are either pregnant and/or moms with kids at least 5 can get into it. You get free cheese, milk, beans, peanut butter, juices and as for pregnant women, 26 oz of tuna and some carrots are added to get. This is only for low income families and starting on October 2009, WIC will allow families to get soy milk, veggies, fruits and it all depends on how much each family can get each month. Have your medical coupon with you as well as your kids to show proof if you have any or showing proof that you are pregnant. If working, have the check stubs with you on the appointment day. We also have Farmers Market up here at different locations and they have them on certain days and it depends which booth will accept WIC and Seniors farmer market vouchers. You get up to $40 in person from WIC.

DSHS (Dept. of Social and Health Services) is a place where you can apply to get cash, food and medical assistance. Depending on how much each family makes a month, they decide how much you can get if you provide all of the necessary paperwork. To find one, look up in your white pages under government section to find the nearest one to you. In order to get cash assistance, you have to be willing to get help on getting a job where you have to attend some classes if necessary. For some people going to college might be necessary. But if you are only going to apply for food and medical, no need to go the necessary steps on cash assistance.

WorkSource helps people to try to get jobs as well as offer you job tips, getting a job and college resources to check out. They also have fax machines, phones, a few copy machines, and some computers to use if you have a resume in their database. What they will need is your social security number which is safe for you to use in order to use one of their computers. If you never register there before, you just need to bring in your current resume and it would be in their database. Make sure to just remember your social security numbers in order to log in for one of their pcs. WorkSource is located in different areas of Seattle such as in Beacon Hill, Northgate, and a few other areas. If you are looking for a job or currently need help on going off to college, this is a good place to start looking. They are willing to help you if needed.

Loving Families and Becoming Parents programs is for couples that are expecting a baby and they have classes as well as prizes for low income families. The requirements is that they have to be at least 18 or older, married or been together as in a long term relationship, living within Seattle area. Becoming Parents is located in downtown Seattle and Loving Families are in two different locations. One in Seattle and another is in Shoreline, WA area. Loving Families give away a free Fred Meyers card worth at least $50 and sometimes with gas incentive too.

Seattle Public Library, Shoreline Public Library, Richmond Beach Library (Shoreline area), and Lake Forest Park Public Library are worth checking out, Not only is it great that they are free but depending on the policy for each libraries, you can use their PCs for a certain amount of time. They have free books and magazines that have to do with your job search worth borrowing plus they have these different events going on like for toddler story time, puppet show, homework help for kids going to school and even book clubs are done once a month if into books and wanting to socialize with others. Another great thing is that if you are thinking about starting your own business, take the time to make an appointment whether in person or over the phone to book in advance for the SCORE program. The people to meet for a SCORE program are volunteers that are either previous small business owner or still one themselves. You get free materials such as about starting your own business.

I hope that you enjoy reading about these free programs to try to get into if you in a low income family. It doesn't hurt to apply to all of these programs during this economy. Using all of these resources helps out anybody in the end.