Nickeia Mason, NEED academic and career advisor and Future NEED Scholars program coordinator, said, “There are statistics that show that once a student has a child, they are less likely to graduate than those without children.”
Future NEED Scholars will consist of one-on-one mentoring with a parent coach, otherwise known as a “Big Momma;” curriculum to help parents with their parenting styles, multi-tasking and time management; a connection with an academic advisor to assist with their academic pursuits; and more. There will also be individual home and school visits, along with group sessions and resources to support the development and academic achievement of their children.
Each participant, Sturdivant said, will be given a laptop preloaded with programs that mothers can use to work with their children.
“We understand the current state is the use of technology and academics, unfortunately a lot of parents use technology in incorrect ways, to sort of pacify kids, like babysitting, but we want to help these parents utilize technology in a way that will support their child’s developmental progress and their academic achievement,” she said. “But it doesn’t take the place of one-on-one parenting. We’ll still teach them the proper ways of playing with their children and encourage all those developmental domains such as interacting with them.”
Sturdivant explained that Future NEED Scholars is important because many African-American students already face struggles to graduate and go onto to college, and parenting just adds more challenges. By having a program where students can learn the skills needed, they can have a successful future and pass that on to their children.
“We want to stop the cycle of school dropout and lack of school achievement. Parents are the first educators of their children, so if a child doesn’t have a good foundation at home, they’re less likely to achieve at school,” she said. “We want to be able to equip those parents with the skills and support necessary to not only get them through school, but also to help their babies through school, to be school ready. It’s a train the trainer kind of thing.”
While the focus of Future NEED Scholars is the teen mother, both, Sturdivant and Mason, agree that family support and participation are key to ensuring the teen’s success, and said the program will include a component for the whole family-the teen’s parents and even the child’s father.
“We want to these kids to have a bright future and with that their children will have a bright future and better opportunities,” Sturdivant said.
(For more information on Future NEED Scholars, call Nickeia Mason at 412-403-3966 or email nmason@needld.org.)
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