As we celebrate our 25^th year at Bridgeway I appreciate and am excited at the prospect of a national partnership for those of us whose mission is to work with the teen pregnant and parenting population.  Re-occurring national conferences could afford tremendous opportunities for sharing our unique expertise and experiences, as well as lending support to one another.

We really enjoyed the conference in September and thank Mt. Pleasant for making it possible.  There were so many wonderful ideas presented and we loved the tour of The Care Center.  It was really nice to be able to connect with everyone.

The focus of our weekly life skills classes at Bridgeway continues to address the diverse needs of our parenting teens during this challenging time in their lives.  So many of the girls have not been afforded positive role modeling nor caring intervention during their earlier years, and life skills are an integral part of our program. 

We are presently assessing the need for more concentrated preparation which will assist our teen moms as they near their transition time from Bridgeway to the larger community.  These challenges often seem overwhelming to a young mom.

Our parenting teens who are participating in our Youth Transition Program, living in their own apartments, have made tremendous progress with improving their independent living skills.  Initially some of the girls struggled with the additional responsibilities and independence, and in time have grown in their ability to become both successful parents and self sufficient.