Pet grooming: how one woman thinks it can help people exit the poverty cycle

Tanisha Davis remembers the struggles of raising three children without sufficient income or housing.

“I was really just in a financial hardship, not really having a stable place to stay,” Ms. Davis recalls. “I stayed in my car, hotels.”

That all changed in January 2016 when she became part of the first class of The Grooming Project, an intensive, 23-week hands-on training program that readied her for a career in pet grooming – an expanding field that offers higher-than-average hourly wages of $19 an hour, according to the initiative.

Since graduating from the program, not only has Davis earned a living wage for her and her children, but she’s also had a new network of supports at the ready.

The Grooming Project is the principal initiative of Empowering the Parent to Empower the Child – a nonprofit in Kansas City,