Dream Tracks

Overall Goal:

The Dream Tracks program, activities, and outcomes will impact the culture of poverty in our community.

Systems Change:

The Dream Tracks program, activities, and outcomes will impact the culture of poverty in our community.  Research indicates that providing a variety of program activities - mentoring, tutoring, parenting, counseling, job training, community service and volunteer development, and social skill development - will reduce risk-taking behaviors and will work to motivate youth to become self-sufficient adults (Brindis and Davis, Vol V.).  The philosophy of Dream Tracks is to incorporate these strategies to create a structured program whereby teen mothers will thrive.  Through building partnerships and collaborations with community organizations to implement this project, we believe we will have a greater impact on systemic change and public policy.

In providing these types of programming and services we believe we will change the face of poverty, among teen parents and their families, in our community.  By addressing the root causes of the problem - poverty and lack of education and resources - we will impact teen participants and the community as a whole on a systemic level, providing resources and tools to our diverse communities.

Five Critical Competency Areas:

The program integrates five critical competency areas delivered in three phases:

• Phase I: focus on parenting, motivational empowerment, and academic engagement

• Phase II: progress to career adaptability module with a culture-centered career development curriculum

• Phase III: add reciprocal community involvement, giving teens opportunities to develop leadership skills and give back to their community by mentoring other teen parents working through earlier phases of the program, providing opportunities for volunteerism, and connecting community members to the teens

Project Specific Goals:

The goals of the program align directly with the five critical competency areas: parenting, motivational empowerment, academic engagement, career adaptability, and community reciprocity.  These competencies will be delivered in three phases, as listed above, and each phase is expected to take one year.  The extended family member who provides support to the teen parent will similarly participate in program activities to ensure they are involved with their teen.  It will also ensure that family members will personally benefit from programming.

Project Dream Tracks will work with one young mother, one family, and one community at a time to break the cycle of teenage pregnancy, poverty, and economic dependency.  To achieve this, the following goals have been established:

Goal A: Parenting:

Increase number of babies and teen parents who are born healthy and stay healthy, increase the number of participant's children who are prepared to enter kindergarten, and ensure there are no repeat pregnancies among participants.

Goal B:  Academic Engagement:

Increase number of participants graduating from high school, increase academic achievement through tutoring, and engaging students in career curriculum.

Goal C: Motivational Empowerment:

Increase communication and empowerment skills, increase knowledge and skills related to "personal power," address concerns regarding basic needs and provide skills on navigating through the necessary resources to stabilize their living environment, and increase level of involvement and support from extended family members or support system.

Goal D: Career Adaptability:

Increase knowledge and exposure of participants to career options through participation in a culturally centered career development curriculum and increase knowledge in job training skills through workshops via business partnerships.

Goal E:  Community Reciprocity:

Increase the number of teens and their extended family members and/or support networks to develop leadership skills through internships, increase number of participants involved in community volunteerism, leadership, and service learning projects, and provide opportunities for teens to mentor younger participants in the program.

Project Dream Tracks is addressing the top identified best practices for teen pregnancy services and prevention (Gong, et al., 1999).  Those best practices include youth development, involvement of family and other caring adults, cultural relevance, and service learning programs.  Three of the 10 best practices were identified to emphasize partnering with local agencies to strengthen practices and produce better outcomes for teens, all of which are incorporated in the Dream Tracks Project.  They are youth development, family involvement, and cultural relevance.  Because we are emphasizing strong partnerships with community organizations and business, we believe this program will be highly successful and well received in the community.