By Michelle Urberg
Hit shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom successfully popularized teen parenting and make it seem glamorous. The reality for most teen parents, however, is that they are overwhelmed and scared by the prospect of becoming parents. The WIC Office in Champaign County is no stranger to these challenges. Champaign-Urbana’s local news station WCIA recently interviewed Tasha Thompson, WIC case manager and founder of the GOALS Project, a non-profit organization in the CU-area, actively working to address the challenges of teen parenting. In her interview Thompson noted, “It’s going to happen. There’s going to be teen parents.”
But, where can they really turn for guidance? The GOALS Project offers a chance for teen parents to be more than statistics in the CU-area.
Although a number of programs in the CU-area offer resources for teen parents, the GOALS Project—an acronym standing for Going On Against Life’s Struggles—has been reaching out teen moms to since 2009 to offer a unique blend of guidance and support. The GOALS project works with teen moms through one-on-one mentoring and monthly group workshops to teach its participants—ages 13-21—how to set and meet their educational, career, and parenting goals.
This is not always an easy task! As readers of Chambanamoms know, it can be difficult to convince many in this age group to think about what their adult-selves might wish and hope to achieve. Teens with children face even greater challenges in imagining success, knowing that they must parent a child along with growing up themselves.
Thompson knows that the challenges teen parents face often cause them to lose confidence in themselves. This discourages them from working toward better lives for themselves and their children.
A former teen parent herself, Thompson, has deep insight to overcoming these challenges. GOALS was born of her desire to teach necessary life skills, provide a positive support network through mentoring, and reward the completion of educational, professional, and parenting goals. Most of all, she seeks to instill GOALS’ participants with the belief that success is possible!
The benefits of the GOALS Project are clear from the positive impact it has made in the lives of the participants. Nadia Diaz exemplifies one of the best achievement stories from The GOALS Project. You may know her from her recent cameo on WCIA.
Since joining the GOALS Project in 2013, Diaz has met an important professional goal since she started coming to the workshops and being paired with a mentor. One of the goals she set to meet in the early summer of 2014 was finding a part-time job. It can be hard for many teens in the CU-area to get valuable work experience in high school because the job market is fairly competitive, due to the number of college students seeking employment. After determinedly submitting many applications and a successful interview, Diaz did, however, land a job at McDonald’s in Champaign. GOALS’ series of workshops on job readiness helped make her achievement possible. Her part-time job, moreover, offers her crucial experience that will help to prepare her for college and her ultimate dream of pursuing veterinary medicine in college.
Diaz’ success is just one of many in the GOALS Project. In the past couple of years GOALS has helped at least 5 moms transition from high school to post-secondary education, one Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL and several at Parkland College in Champaign. Two moms are currently planning to get a CNA certificate. Several other moms still in high school have landed and kept part-time jobs. All of these accomplishments were professional and educational goals they set and met.
Part of GOALS’ strength as a program arises from its focus on more than educational and professional goals. GOALS also expects its participants to set and meet goals that foster good parenting habits, which the program reinforces as keys to bettering the lives of both parents and children. This is the newest part of The GOALS project. Setting and meeting parenting goals will be an important part of the 2015 workshop series. GOALS will host a series of workshops about the importance of literacy and parents can improve their child’s reading skills.
Has this program piqued your interest? Look for another post in the next few weeks about volunteer opportunities with The GOALS Project.
Michelle is on the Board of Directors for The GOALS Project. When she isn’t volunteering, she is currently spending her time writing her dissertation about music in medieval Sweden, running half marathons, and watching films.