Kat Goldberg was 39 when her husband died of an overdose.
He had become addicted to prescription drugs after being hit by a drunk driver. They had been separated, and she had placed a restraining order against him before he died.
She had three kids, 5, 6 and 9, to raise alone. Her middle son is autistic, and she couldn’t find a daycare that would take him. They were living in Lafayette off her late husband’s Social Security.
In 2012, three years after her husband died, she joined Circles, a program that pairs clients such as Goldberg, who they call “leaders” with people they call “allies” to help with goal-setting and problem-solving. She had once worked in medical billing and thought about going back to that.
One problem: “I knew there was no way I could support myself and three kids on that salary,” she said.
She decided she wanted to go back to college.
“Who can argue with something like that? But it’s easier to say you want to go back to school than to do it,” she said.
Goldberg didn’t know where to begin.
“My allies went with me to Front Range. We talked to an academic advisor to see what I needed to do to get in,” she said. “It meant the world to me. I was so intimidated by everybody.”
She met with her allies a few months later and they asked her what her goals were. Goldberg hadn’t really thought of setting something specific, but she replied: “I’d like to have my associate’s degree by the time my daughter graduates high school.”
In that one day, they sat down and planned how many classes she could take at a time and still be able to have time with her kids. They helped her consider things she hadn’t thought of, like not taking science and math at the same time.
They then helped her get her student loan out of default. That led to good news. Many of her previous courses would transfer. She received a fellowship from the University of Colorado, Denver, and is set to graduate in 2018 with a degree in communications.
Now she is an ally with Circles, her daughter is set to graduate high school, and her autistic son goes to school in Boulder, taking the bus himself.
“I call it the 30 year plan. If you had told me this is what I would be doing ve years ago, I would have rolled my eyes and wondered what drugs you were on,” Goldberg said.
