Parent Pathways, Inc.

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Impact Statement

FY2008 Accomplishments:

We provide a high-school curricula at the Florence Crittenton School for teen moms, and offer an on-site Early Learning Center for their babies. Our services for young fathers help them learn parenting skills, address their education needs, and prepare for employment so they can emotionally and financially support their children. Working with Parent Pathways and other community organizations, these young families develop the multiple skills they need to achieve self-sufficiency. Our proven, client-centered approach helps each family define its goals and develop and implement plans to achieve them.

• Last year, 270 teen moms benefited from Florence Crittenton’s academic program, support services, and skills training.
• 93% of students who attended Florence Crittenton during their senior year graduated with a high school diploma and 80% of those graduating had plans for post-secondary education.
• 100% of children enrolled in the Early Learning Center for at least six months met or exceeded their developmental milestones.
• 100% of the babies enrolled in the Center were current on basic immunizations.
• The Early Learning Center has a 3-Star Rating from Qualistar.
• 127 young fathers received parenting skills, education services, relationship coaching, and job readiness services.

(FISCAL YEAR 2008-09 DATA)

Needs Statement

1) We are seeking more board members to bring strategic planning, policy development, fund raising, and financial skills to the governance of the organization.

2) Increasing annual foundation, corporate, and individual funding to strengthen and grow our program.

3) Development of planned giving resources to help endow the organization.

4) Continued growth of our volunteer corp with a focus on the development of a mentoring/tutoring program for high school age students and special events.

Background Statement

Founded as Human Services, Inc. in 1974 and renamed Parent Pathways in 2005, we have a rich history of meeting the needs of at-risk families and children in the Denver community. Created from the consolidation of three historic programs (Family and Children’s Service, Travelers Aid, and Florence Crittenton Services) to share resources and better serve their clients, we now provide a broad range of services to pregnant and parenting teens and their children. There services include critical education, parenting, life-skills, and transitional housing needs of at-risk pregnant and parenting teens and their infant and toddler children in metro Denver.

Our services are delivered through four primary programs. Collaborating with Denver Public Schools, the Florence Crittenton School was founded in 1985. The School provides a middle and high school curriculum, support services, and life skills training to pregnant and parenting teens, ages 13-19. At the same location as the School, our Early Learning Center for the babies, ages 3 weeks to 3 years, of the teen mothers who attend the School. This is a best practice center delivering social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development training to these children and their parents. Parent Pathways also has a Young Fathers Program that is focused on services to help young men learn parenting skills, address their education needs, and prepare for employment, so they can emotionally and financially support their children. Lastly, we provide transitional housing for homeless teen parents and their children, with opportunities to develop the multiple skills they need to achieve self-sufficiency.

Board Chair/President Statement

Thank you for taking the time to learn about Parent Pathways and our unique programs for pregnant and parenting teens and their infant children. We serve a population in metro Denver of very young moms, dads, and their infant children that might otherwise be overwhelmed by the major financial, social, health, and emotional challenges facing low income teen families. We stand alone as the only program for teen families in metro Denver that provides a coordinated spectrum of educational, parenting, health/wellness, life skill, and career development services.

Our best practice services are defined well with the following statements:

> Our holistic approach encompasses the entire teen family and includes education, early childhood learning, and supportive services to help teen families become self-sufficient members of the community.

> Our clients work with our staff to develop a customized path to help them reach their desired goals and to strengthen the teens’ ability to be successful adults and parents.

> Our education services are tailored to the unique needs of teen parents. With the Florence Crittenton School at the core, we use a Denver Public Schools curriculum to help students earn a high school diploma.

> Parent Pathways’ early childhood education and parenting services prepare children and their parents for a successful future. Primarily through the Qualistar-rated Early Learning Center, children receive, and their parents learn about, nurturing, early education, and discipline approaches appropriate to each developmental stage.

> Our Young Fathers Program prepares the dads for the responsibilities and joys of fatherhood, focusing on parenting skills, establishing paternity, completing their education, and becoming job ready.

Board Chair/President Statement

Parent Pathways has a long and solid history in providing services to teen families in metro Denver. Over the years, we have been able to provide thousands of our clients - teen mothers, fathers, and their infant children - with the resources necessary to create and maintain new families and to empower each client to be productive members of the Denver community.

Parent Pathways maintains a unique niche in metro Denver and has an ongoing opportunity to grow its programs and serve additional clients. There is no other resource in metro Denver that delivers a similar set of coordinated services to entire teen families, as we do, and there is a significant unmet need for such services to pregnant and parenting teens in metro Denver. While improvement can be seen in Colorado's teen pregnancy statistics, there are still many young moms and dads who need critical resources to be able to form a successful life with a new child.

As a Board, we are convince of the worth of Parent Pathways’ programs and see additional opportunities to increase the scope and size of our programs. We are also focused on advancing the level of program quality through best practice enhancements and additional collaborations with other human service and healthcare providers. In the coming year, we will be evaluating the potential of enlarging the Florence Crittenton School, the Early Learning Center, and our Young Fathers Program to meet the unmet needs in metro Denver.

As a Board, we face two primary challenges. First is space. Both our School and the Early Learning Center exist in restricted space which artificially limits growth of both programs to meet existing needs in metro Denver. Second is funding. Competition for philanthropic dollars is increasing each year and general operating funds are getting scarcer, as many funders want to focus more on direct services, as opposed to general operating funds. We are facing the challenge of securing a stronger fundraising base by working toward a larger, individual donor base, additional corporate support, and a planned giving initiative. While we have longstanding and key support from some of Colorado’s largest foundations, we know we must continue to secure new funding both locally and nationally to assure that we are sustainable.

Thank you for considering Parent Pathways as a potential recipient of your philanthropic dollar.

Doug Hock, Chairperson