SIX TEEN MOTHERS GRADUATE FROM HOPE HOUSE OF COLORADO GED PROGRAM

Hope House of Colorado is proud to announce six teen mothers graduated Sept. 26, 2009, from the nonprofit’s General Educational Development (GED) Program.

This is the second graduation ceremony held for Hope House of Colorado’s GED Program since it was launched earlier this year. The program assists parenting teen mothers in the community who would otherwise not have access to GED tutoring and childcare. Hope House of Colorado also pays for the tests, and most participants earn their GED credentials in less than half the time typically needed.

Hope House of Colorado has been serving the teen mothers and their children for over five years by offering a self-sufficiency program empowering them to break unhealthy, often generational cycles. What began as a residential program now includes mentoring and GED services as well.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that compared to women who delay childbearing until the age of 20 to 21 years, teenage mothers, aged 19 and younger, are more likely to drop out of high school and to be and remain single parents. The children of teenage mothers are more likely to:
- have lower cognitive attainment and proficiency scores at kindergarten entry,
- exhibit behavior problems,
- have chronic medical conditions,
- rely more heavily on publicly provided health care,
- be incarcerated at some time during adolescence until their early 30s, and
- drop out of high school, give birth as a teenager, and be unemployed, or underemployed as a young adult. (www.cdc.gov)

Hope House of Colorado is a self-sufficiency program empowering teen mothers to break unhealthy, often generational cycles. As a nondenominational Christian nonprofit, Hope House provides hope and stability to parenting teen mothers through several structured self-sufficiency programs. The Residential Program provides a safe, stable home environment for teen mothers and their children, while each young mother completes a holistic two-year program. The Mentoring Program matches trained volunteers with teen mothers; together they work through the steps of a self-sufficiency curriculum. The GED Preparation Program provides individual instruction and tutoring in a small classroom setting to teen mothers who wish to earn a GED. In addition to the opportunities available for program participants, Hope House offers many ways for the community to become involved as well. To find out more, call 303-429-1012 or visit www.hopehouseofcolorado.org.