Keeping with its vision of unlocking the power of education by helping youth meet their highest potential and to enhance their quality of life, NEED has recently introduced a new program that will offer teen mothers the necessary resources and support so that they “may have a bright future with better opportunities” and not become just another statistic.
In September, NEED, the nonprofit that has provided more than $24 million to youth since 1963, launched Future NEED Scholars, a program for African-American female mothers ages 13-19 and in grades 8-12 that will offer the support, mentors, resources and skills needed to ensure they successfully graduate high school and go on to a post secondary institution.
“We know this population (teen mothers) has a very high rate of school dropout and we want to have some targeted intervention to reduce that. But also to make sure that they don’t get just end at high school and go on to high school,” NEED President and CEO Marcia Sturdivant, PhD, said. “We know there is a connection with that and poverty; the higher the education you have, the more opportunity there is for economic stability. So the whole thing is designed to stop that cycle of poverty and dependency.”
The idea for Future NEED Scholars, which is funded by the PNC Charitable Trust, came after the organization looked at their data and student profiles, Sturdivant said, and began to see a trend.
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.)
