Program empowers young moms to finish education
Teen Success support group aims to inspire mothers to overcome challenges and reach their full potential
SAN JOSE >> When the East Side Union High School District considered closing the daycare program at Foothill High School last year, a group of teen moms knew their voices needed to be heard.
So the girls tapped one of their vocal leaders, Sofia Jaquez, to tell the school district board just how difficult it would be for them to earn their diploma without access to on-campus child care.
“I definitely feel in that moment, I was doing it for a lot of people who didn’t want to talk,” Jaquez said. “I knew it was important to say everything I needed to say with a loud
voice. And that’s what I did.”
Jaquez was one of two girls chosen to speak to the board in October 2017 on behalf of the teen moms who are mentored through Teen Success, Inc., a nonprofit organization with a mission to “empower and inspire” young mothers to overcome challenges and reach their full potential through education.
Jaquez, who recently turned 19 and is a few months away from obtaining her diploma through San Jose Conservation Corps, credits her experience with Teen Success to having the confidence to speak to the school board.
“In that moment, I felt like I could use my voice in any way,” Jaquez said. “I felt very empowered. They were listening to me. It was amazing feeling. I felt unstoppable in that moment.”
The original Teen Success support group program was formed in 1990 by former state State Sen. Becky Morgan, who established a group in Cupertino. In 2011, Morgan founded Teen Success, Inc. as an independent nonprofit organization which currently serves young families in San Jose, Redwood City and Oakland, as well as Sacramento, Salinas, Reno and the Central Valley.
While teen birth rates nationwide have decreased over the past 15 years, the communities served by Teen Success in San Jose have some of the highest teen pregnancy rates in California, according to the non-profit. The state average is 21.1 births per 1,000 females between the ages of 15 to 19; in the Mayfair/East San Jose neighborhoods, the birth rate among the same age group is 89 per 1,000, according to data provided by Teen Success.
Nationally, just 38 percent of teen moms complete high school, which perpetuates a cycle of intergenerational teen motherhood and poverty, according to Teen Success. However, 93 percent of the young moms in the Teen Success program have completed high school or its equivalent.
Teen Success is hoping to increase the number of success stories in 2019 by doubling the number of young families it serves in San Jose, from 36 to 70. Donations from Wish Book readers would help the nonprofit pay for healthy snacks and childcare during the peer and individual coaching sessions, space for the meetings and a year’s worth of diapers and wipes for young mothers.
“The work we’re trying to do is break the cycle of poverty,” said Karin Kelley, executive director of Teen Success.
Kelley said one of the critical aspects of the Teen Success program is helping young moms identify the barriers to completing their education and then working with them to overcome those hurdles. Kelley said the program also helps young moms realize opportunities that are available to them, whether it’s education beyond high school, employment or child care.
“It’s really empowering to them that they are not limited by their situation,” Kelley said.
Teen moms who participate in the program get one-on-one coaching sessions each week with a mentor, and weekly peer-support group sessions with fellow teen moms. During the one-on-one sessions, mentors focus on the teen’s path to a high school diploma, as well as developing the skills needed to nurture their child’s positive development.
In the group settings, the focus is on early literacy, parenting education and reproductive health education.
Stephanie Brown oversees the San Jose program and has mentored Jaquez and other teen moms from East San Jose for about one year. Brown said she works with the girls to “identify obstacles and challenges, as well as goals, and work through stuff with them to achieve all of that.”
Jaquez has no shortage of ambitions. Once she receives her diploma, she plans on attending a local community college, take classes in criminal justice and eventually transfer to a four-year university. She wants to find a career in law enforcement and combat child trafficking.
For Jaquez, who was 16 when she gave birth to her daughter, Elina, sharing concerns and discussing challenges with other young moms has been invaluable.
“There was a new girl who said she was independent and she didn’t have any friends,” Jaquez said. “Later in the program, she got emotional and opened up to us about real issues going on at home. And in that moment, I just thought, this is why girls need our program. Just to talk about it.’
When the girls became aware that the daycare program at Foothill High School might be closing, the topic dominated their group peer sessions. The girls created a video to show express how important on-campus daycare was to their education.
And several of them attended the board meeting where Jaquez spoke. The school board extended the daycare last year and is still working on a permanent solution.
“Anytime a student comes and addresses the board during a meeting, I think that shows a lot of character and confidence,” said Chris Funk, superintendent of the East Side Union High School District. “I remember those young parents speaking with a lot of passion, which definitely had an impact on the board and on myself.
“And it just goes to show that just because one becomes a teen parent, it doesn’t mean their options should be limited, to not move on and earn a diploma and go to college. I think they demonstrated their desire to do both.”