JANUARY 21, 2010 ISSUE
Watauga Dropout Program Awarded $84,000 State Grant
Children’s Council Program Helps Pregnant and Parenting Teens Graduate High School
Rep. Cullie Tarleton (D-93) and Sen. Steve Goss (D-45) announced last week that the Children’s Council of Watauga County was awarded $84,000 for the Pregnant and Parenting Teens Support Program.
The Children’s Council of Watauga County was awarded the $84,000 grant from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction Dropout Prevention Committee. Last year, the Children’s Council received the same grant for $70,000, according to Lynette Walker, Parents as Teachers educator, which was used to better the lives of 10 local girls.
The funds for 2010 will primarily be used to hire a social worker who will be trained in the Parents as Teachers curriculum and provide intensive support for pregnant and parenting teens in Watauga County to support them in staying or returning to school. Services will include educational support goal plans, support groups, home visiting, pregnancy, birth and postpartum support and stipends to reward attendance and good grades.
The Parents as Teachers program features free enrollment, monthly home visits by a certified parent educator, group meeting opportunities, periodic screenings of hearing vision and development and community resource information.
According to Walker, five local teens have signed up for the program in 2010, but it can serve up to 30. To find teens interested in the program, the Children’s Council receives referrals from Watauga Medical Center and Watauga High School. If interested in applying, click to www.thechildrenscouncil.org, call 828-264-5424 or stop by the Children’s Council office, located at 225 Birch Street, Suite 3 in Boone.
“This program helps us reach young people who may otherwise never graduate from high school,” Tarleton said. “We already have too many students who have chosen that path and made their lives more difficult. I hope that this project and others like it will help us catch some of those who are headed the wrong way.”
“Keeping our kids in school is the best way to get our economy back on track for the long-term,” Goss said. “Programs such as these are exactly the type of proactive approach that we need to be taking to ensure that our kids are getting the education they need and deserve.”
“[Parents as Teachers] serves a big need,” said Robin Triplett, Parents as Teachers coordinator. “We do it because we love it.”
“This program is huge for the girls—most thought that their life was done,” added Walker.
The Dropout Prevention Grant program was created in 2007 and has awarded more than 200 small grants worth a total of $34 million since then.
For more information, click to www.thechildrenscouncil.org.
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