A Raleigh nonprofit is seeing demand for its job and stability programs jump 55% as it rolls out a $7.5 million expansion aimed at helping more Wake County residents climb out of poverty. The campaign comes as local families face a squeeze that can turn a missed paycheck, eviction or health crisis into a much longer fall.
The pressure is not just rhetorical: the MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates that a two-parent household with two children and both adults working needs $106,736 after taxes in Wake County to cover basic necessities. Spectrum News reported that StepUp Chief Outreach Officer Laura Martin attributed the rising demand to the economy, wage stagnation and shrinking access to affordable housing.
StepUp Expansion Targets Wake County’s Stability Gap
StepUp Ministry’s Rooted & Rising campaign is centered on a planned 9,500-square-foot facility designed to serve as many as 1,000 people each week at full capacity. The nonprofit says the $7.5 million effort could help about 1,000 Wake County residents move above the poverty line each year, while expanding support for work, housing, transportation, child care and recovery.
The approach is deliberately broader than handing someone a job listing and wishing them luck. StepUp combines employment training with a 48-week life-skills program, continuing coaching, leadership development and community partnerships meant to address the barriers that can make keeping a job harder than finding one.
Pamela Walker knows those barriers firsthand. The Raleigh native told Spectrum News that she had a drug problem and was living day to day on the streets before finding a path to sobriety through StepUp, where she said staff reminded her that she had value and worth.
Walker is now president of a local Toastmasters International group that meets at White Memorial Presbyterian Church, and StepUp sponsors the group. She described Toastmasters as a place centered on communication and on people wanting to be heard and understood — a fitting next chapter for someone who once was focused mainly on surviving.
The expansion effort also has public-sector backing. Wake County approved a $550,000 Community Capital Grant for StepUp in November 2025 to help replace its existing facility and increase the organization’s capacity, according to Wake County government.
