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OneRouge Community Check-In: Week 238

Writer's picture: OneRougeOneRouge




Understanding the Journey of Teen Parenting


Becoming a parent as a teenager is a life-altering experience, filled with challenges and opportunities. Many young parents find themselves juggling the demands of raising a child while trying to figure out their own path in life. It’s not just about sleepless nights and diaper changes—it’s about navigating a world that suddenly feels a lot bigger and more complicated. By opening our hearts and understanding the unique struggles teen parents face, we can begin creating an environment where they feel supported, not judged, as they take on one of life’s most important roles.


Education: A Bridge to a Brighter Future


For teen parents, education can be the key to building a stable and fulfilling future. But let’s face it—balancing school with parenting responsibilities is no small feat. That’s why programs like flexible class schedules, on-campus childcare, and online learning options are so transformative. These initiatives make it possible for young parents to keep their dreams alive while providing for their little ones. Education doesn’t just open doors for teen parents; it also sets a powerful example for their children, showing them that perseverance and growth are always possible.


The Power of Community Support


No one should have to do it all alone, and teen parents are no exception. Community resources—like parenting classes, healthcare services, and mentorship programs—offer a lifeline when things feel overwhelming. When schools, local organizations, and neighbors come together to provide support, they create a safety net that helps teen parents thrive. Whether it’s offering a listening ear, sharing practical advice, or simply cheering them on, every act of kindness can make a world of difference. At the heart of it all, supporting teen parents is about building a community where they know they belong and where their families can flourish.


Learn with us from our guest Speaker Tessica Johnson from Dream in Demand.

 

Notes

Tia Fields: Oh, Nancy's on. I connected with Nancy twice over this MLK holiday. I absolutely love her with the cancer services, Casey.


Casey Phillips: Absolutely. As I said, it was a pleasure to finally get to meet her in person, right? Yes.


Tia Fields: Nancy, I'm on here bragging on you talking about our two encounters, just showing, just saying how much I really appreciated our dialogue over the poverty summit as well as participating and the M. L. K. block party. It was a blast. Well, good morning One Rouge and happy Friday. I hope everyone has filled out well during snowmageddon 2025. And we're excited to be here on the call. Just to be respectful of everybody's time, I'm going to allow our first guest speaker, Miss Tessica, to go ahead and introduce herself. Just tell us a little bit who she is and what it is that she'll do.And then we'll hop right on into the conversation.


Tessica Johnson: Good morning, everyone. I kind of provided a brief introduction. Well, my name is Tessica Johnson, as Dr. Harrison said, I am the co-founder of Dream in Demand, which is a nonprofit organization that provides support to single parents in East Baton Rouge Parish to support youth participation in extracurricular activities. I also serve as the Carl Perkins CTE region lead at Baton Rouge Community College. And my job is to encourage youth not youth participation, but involvement in career and tech ed programs across region two CTE or career and tech ed programs are the most high wage in demand programs in the region. So I work with secondary partners, post secondary partners, as well as community industry partners to make sure that our population or our community knows about those CTE programs in the region.


Tia Fields: Awesome. Awesome. So our second panelist, Ms. Boatner, hasn't made it on yet. So I'm just going to go ahead and kick us off as we talk a little bit about teen pregnancy. So around 2022, the data shows for Louisiana as a whole, from the Department of Health, about 25 percent of the births given were from teen mothers or teen parents. With 23.7 percent per 1000 females ages 15 to 19, which is a little bit higher than the national average. And so as I think about some of the coalition works that we're doing, we're always talking about the ways that things intersect. We do have a coalition that has never been launched that focuses on teen pregnancy and then another coalition that talks about children being in poverty. So we look at how alarming the rates of children in Louisiana are having kids. That are normally coming from impoverished neighborhoods. What do you think happens when those children are born into the same conditions in which their parents birth them? So Tessica, can you talk a little bit about some of the services that your organization Has been successful in and may have had some challenges in.


Tessica Johnson: Good morning. So what our organization we had, we're in a phase of kind of doing a lot of research planning our lunch date is April 1st. And what our organization will be doing is providing financial assistance, our grants or scholarships to single parent families in East Baton Rouge Parish. We'll also be providing additional resources. So such as workshops, donations, things of that nature. And what we've seen just looking at the data is that kind of looking at the data from single parents as well as teen parents. Point of view, those parents whose children, those children who are born in these households where the income rate is below the privacy poverty threshold are more likely to become impoverished themselves.So our organization is looking to, of course, empower. We have to empower the parents to empower this. The children, of course, and we want to provide them with those extracurricular activities to just kind of cultivate their talents, but also strengthen their, their social skills, maybe help them educationally coming from a CTE background and also working in secondary education briefly and in social services.I firmly believe that education is key. I believe that some type of skill set whether it's a two year, four year credential or whether it's some type of trade is going to be key. So we, that's one of our goals is to lead our families to whether it's the parent or the child. So some type of secondary, post secondary credential attainment or for those who haven't, especially when we're talking about teen parents who haven't received. A high school diploma has it. There's so many resources in our community. And we know this from just this collective meeting that we're sending now, but also, Looking at economics and financial literacy on our board. We have two. Two board members who are in the financial sector have A tax preparer and we also have a real estate agent who works really a lot in the community, you know, holding workshops, working closely with different community partners. So just kind of helping them on those two fronts. economically as well as at the educational level is key for our organization. So yes, we'll be providing those grants so that those children can participate in extracurricular activities because that's key. And we know that single parents, which majority of these teen parents probably are looking at the statistics and the data. You know, 15 to 19 year olds are most likely not married. But those children, they need to be in some type of social or enrichment activities excuse me, or extracurricular activities because that helps them, but also helping the parents with those skill sets that they need so that they can live be sufficient, be self sufficient, not relying on. Government assistance or public assistance because the census data shows that 50 percent of single parents or mothers, 30 percent are single parents of males, and that those percentages are living at or below the poverty, poverty threshold. So that is what our organization plans to do. And I'm sorry if I was wordy, but, you know, I want to kind of fit that in there.


Tia Fields: No worries I always appreciate the data and the numbers. So thinking about the services that you guys are looking to launch on April 1st, I become curious about the type of partnerships that you may benefit from or have already been in contact with. We know that Healthy Start is a wonderful program for any parent, whether male or female, that offers different resources. As well as Youth Oasis that really focus on, you know, runaway youth or children who are disconnected from educational or workplace opportunities. Can you talk a little bit about some of your strategic community partnerships that you've invested in or looking into for areas that you need support in?


Tessica Johnson: Yes. Thank you for that question, Miss Tia. So we definitely are looking at partnerships. Well, currently, we're getting some data from the East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority. We're doing our market research because we want to make sure that we are tailoring our support to The needs of families after me. You know, we're a very data driven organization. So we're working with those different social services organizations just to do some market research in the form of partnerships with, of course, youth organizations so that we can maybe get some sponsorships, YMCA brick to name a few, and even the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. But again, we service East Baton Rouge Parish, so that encompasses Baton Rouge, Zachary, the City of Central, and Baker as well. So we want to be in partnership with those different school districts. Definitely looking at B R Y C because B R Y C has an amazing youth program for preteens and teenagers.They do a lot of work tailored towards post secondary Support. Just type feeding those children into the post secondary field. So definitely organizations that are focused on social services, education and health and financial literacy. We are currently working with and then we have a point of contact with Keller Williams Realty, one of our board members again is a real estate agent. So Keller Williams will come in and they will provide some type of financial literacy. And we are in, we have a point of contact at the Dave Ramsey Foundation. So we want to provide that again, financial literacy, economic support, so that we can help our families with, give our families the tools that they need so that they can be self sufficient outside of public assistance. You know, even letting them know the benefits working with the state services, such as the Office of Health and Hospitals, letting them know the benefits of the Medicaid benefits that they receive because there are a lot of incentives with those programs that they may not know about, such as. Gym memberships to the YMCA, as well as give cards when they, there's them and other children get their well visit checkups. A lot of people don't know about this. So we are not only looking at, again, all sponsorships and donations through those youth programs, but also Just making sure that our families and our community know about the benefits of some of the services that they receive. Even the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, there are different resources that are available there when they have a library card. So we're all hands on deck right now, feet on the ground, just doing a lot of work, groundwork, building, doing our market research because when we do speak to our community partners, we want to give them that data. We don't want to speculate about anything because all single parents are different. You know, we are looking at grandparents raising children. We're looking at mothers. We're looking at fathers. We're looking at other relatives raising children, so and not all of the resources that these families need are financial. So again, we don't want to make any type of we don't want to just say, okay, all families, single parents are impoverished or they, but we do understand that the lack of resources could be time because you are dealing with one person in a household majority of the time. So that emotional need. That the emotional assistance or the emotional help that the child may need is not split up by two people, you know, you have one person who's taking on an emotional toll, especially when these children grow. So even working with our partners in a mental health field, we have a social worker on our board as well.


Tia Fields: Thank you for that. 


Jordan Howard: Okay. So as you mentioned, Tessica, just about how, you know, you don't want to pass judgment or believe stereotypes in the work that you're doing. I know that that happens a lot, especially since it’s kind of taboo to kind of even still sometimes in certain cultures or just, you know, But backgrounds of like beliefs right now, I guess in society. And so with that, like how there, or how, and how have you overcome like any barriers in that way of like cause I hear you talking about how many partners and things like that, but it's, I feel like there's a gap. I think it's really important in the education and the access to these teen parents, because on their side, a lot of times they'll be like, I didn't get any help. Like, I'm really struggling. I don't know who to connect to. Everybody I dropped out because I didn't want to, you know, be embarrassed. Like all of those different types of things. So even like how the schools have taken out like sex ed, like how do you infiltrate those systems to really support those teens or provide access to them? And like, what are those barriers look like? Or how have you? How do you plan to, I know you started in April, but like, how do you plan to even overcome that? That was a lot of questions. So let me know if you need me to repeat it.


Tessica Johnson: Oh no, that's fine. And that's a really good question. That's why I like being in these spaces because it allows us to, you know, maybe better plan, maybe be able to like, okay, well maybe we need to maybe implement this into our plan. So we have five organizational goals and Amongst those goals are to provide workshops and resources to our families. And of course we can't do that without knowing what is in the community as well as being innovative. I like to think of our organization as one in which it is we take a more visionary approach. We are more so going to be using our social media platform. We have a content calendar, and so we know that that's the way to reach teens. Really, this day and age, social media is going to be key, but also looking at those community partners that service teens and youth. So, again, BRYC maybe organizations that hire you, BREC and also getting into those schools, especially looking at those schools where, looking at the demographics, I always like to do research before I hop into something, and I know that Ms. Harrison or even Ms. Tia, they rattled out some statistics about teens, where we see that the number of teens who are actually females who've had births within the past year are majority Hispanic and black students. Well, where are those students positioned in the school system? Maybe we need to tailor our approaches to go into those schools where they may have a predominantly Hispanic or black population, which due to the work that I've done in the, at the regional. Right. I see that that may be schools like Broadmoor High, EBR, or Bel Air High or some schools on the northern end of the parish. Also, there are some students who are not in school, and majority of those I'm sorry, teen parents who are not in school, and majority of those students, again, Hispanic and Black. So, just saying, well, since they're not in school, where are they at? If they're receiving Medicaid benefits, hey, making sure we have a healthy partnership with the Department of Health and Hospital, maybe working with different hospitals, such as Woman's hospital or Ochsner and so that we can catch those teen parents as they're leaving. What's the organization? That organization on Airline Drive has a really good program. Family Roads?


Tia Fields:  Are you talking about Family Roads?


Tessica Johnson: Family Roads, yeah. Family Roads. They have a really good program. I don't know if that's who you mentioned earlier. I know you mentioned Healthy Start BR. Yeah, so, so I know they have a really good program where they're working with maybe teen moms or more disadvantaged or marginalized groups. So, Just making sure that we're hitting those forming partnerships with those organizations and, you know, participating in collaborative efforts so that they know that we're here for them. Also knowing that these resources available for them.


Tia Fields: I have a question for the guests that are listening. If anyone who has worked in East Baton Rouge School Parish or any school district in this area on what does it look like when a A child or a student is pregnant. What type of resources does the school system provide them? If any, if the and that's an open question for anybody that may be able to open it. I see Miss Ellis is on the call. I was hoping maybe that you can give some insight. If you have any experience with that.


Jordan Howard: She might be on mute, I’m trying to find her.


Tia Fields: Okay. Well if no one has any insight, I think that's something for us to highlight to kind of look at when we talk about the intersects of the different things that contribute to poverty from education to career to other opportunities. Jordan, I love the fact that you highlighted that Sex Ed is no longer taught in the classroom. So essentially, these students or these young teens are not given the opportunity to understand the different aspects of sex and what comes with it outside of possibly an unwanted pregnancy. So I am curious to know within this call who in this space services teens and children? You guys can drop it in the chat, raise your hand. And if Jordan, if you would like to take over from this call, you can go ahead.


Jordan Howard: And I would like to volunteer someone if they don't mind, and if they're available, but something that I had just learned about well, not just learned about, that's a, that's a stretch, but in my internship, when I was with East Baton Rouge Parish School System, was the services, the wraparound services through Magellan. And so Miss Patricia Burns, if you're available to kind of speak about even what that is that would be great. Okay. She says, sure. Yay.


Patricia Burns: Let me get unmuted here and, and get some video. And I would love to. Well, maybe not the video. For some reason, it is not letting me. However, Magellan of Louisiana manages the Louisiana Coordinated System of Care for the Department of Health here in Louisiana. So, the program is for behaviorally challenged children. Ages 5 to 20 and there's a list of so-called criteria, behavioral health criteria. There's several different things that could qualify the child. So. What we, and it's not based on income. It is based on clinical need. And that's what's so different about our program. So, anyone can refer a child whether it's a school, whether it's a parent, a neighbor. Anyone who feels that child is in need of special help and it's a direct referral either to their healthy Louisiana plan or directly to Magellan and Magellan will assess the child. And if they deem the child clinical eligible, then they will place the child with the wraparound agency who will work with the child in any area in which they need help in the behavioral health field some of the services and we go out to the child. It's home based services. Some of the services are psycho social rehab CPST independent Living Skills, and we have the youth and the parent support teams so that peer support is available for the parents and the siblings. So, let me put our phone number, and I'll be glad to answer any questions you guys have. Thank you for the opportunity.


Jordan Howard: Thank you so much, Miss Patricia.


Tia Fields: So, I have another question, right? Thinking about, and if y'all don't know, you guys should always know I'm going to take it somewhere political, at least slightly. So thinking about some of the new executive orders that are being proposed underneath this new administration one of the controversies right now is the child birth right here. Thinking about some of our marginalized populations that are mostly affected by Just oppressive systems, Marcela, can you talk a little bit about what teen pregnancies or child  pregnancies look like within the immigrant community and some of the resources that Lori may provide for them? If that becomes a thing.


Casey Phillips: Hey, Marcela, I didn't know if you heard the shout out and requests from Miss Tia.


Jordan Howard: It says she's not on mute, but something may be going on with her audio, but I will chime in and say I think that that question to you is so prominent right now because as I was kind of looking into some of the newer release data as it's a new year. The Hispanic demographic, Latinx demographic has the highest rate of teen pregnancies right now and following up is African American girls right under them. And it's a big difference in numbers. I'll have to pull it back up, but, oh, I think I have it right here. It says the disparities exist amongst different racial and ethnic groups, but in the 2015 to 2017 period, the birth rates. White was 7. 0. Black were 36, 37. 6. And then Hispanic were 83. 1. So that's like a huge jump in difference. 


Tia Fields: But see, and you guys, if anyone is wondering, okay, why is this? Why is this the topic of conversation for this Friday? So as I highlighted earlier One route has nine drivers of poverty and within those nine drivers are separate coalitions. For the last few years, we've only had our three active, which is CAFE, Education to Career and Transportation and Mobility. However, just because the coalition work isn't active doesn't mean that research and analytics are not being performed. We do have a teen pregnancy coalition as well as children Living in Poverty Coalition as well as language accessibility. So when I'm thinking about all of the new executive orders that are going into place that affects the way that women, even if those young women or children are able to, receive certain reproductive services. I just can't help but to wonder if the numbers for teen pregnancies in Louisiana is already so high. What is it that we're going to do as a community to try to combat some of the things that are being put into federal law as the way that these children can receive adequate health care and be put on a path where they're not going to be perpetuated in the system of poverty. Marcela, if you're able to come off mute, if you fix your audio, I'm really curious to hear your input and thoughts.


Marcela Hernandez: Good morning, everyone. I hope you guys are doing wonderful today. Okay, I was on my cell phone. That's why I was not able to unmute myself. So, I work at Family Road for a good while and I'm hearing the conversation now. One of the first programs that I did there was teen pregnancy, preventing teen pregnancy in sex education. And I remember very well that one of the biggest struggles was to have access to institutions and schools for us to deliver the classes, which was incredible frustrating because we knew that the schools and the institutions that we were knocking the doors to provide this information were highly needed. And this was very risky. Populations at risk populations, and we still had a lot of difficulties entering back then into the institutions. And I think that everything is tied up to the taboo that is surrounding sex and surrounding this topics that culturally you don't talk about it, even that there is a big need and there is an issue. So I think that, one of the things that we need to do as community is really stop ignoring those big issues that are happening and opening the doors to the opportunities when they come. And especially when there's you know, other, other organizations that are really trying to address this. The other thing is the fact of the teen pregnancy within the immigrant community and especially. some of them who are unable to acquire any type of health insurance. I don't know if you guys are aware, but if you have an immigration an immigration status that is pending you are unable to obtain health insurance. You are unable to apply for Medicaid unless you are pregnant. But what happens is that when you get pregnant, you get your Medicaid for the nine months, but as soon as you deliver the baby, they take away your Medicaid. And that was a huge issue I had also with as a case manager for pregnant mothers, because a lot of my mothers and a lot of them were young latino woman who had post post delivery issues, medical issues, and they were unable to return to school. I mean, to go to the doctor just simply because they did not have insurance. So the issues surrounding teen pregnancy and, you know, really the accessibility of resources are, it is a real issue and we need to address this. We need to address it in a way that is institutionally welcoming, that we cannot ignore it, not just simply because we don't want to talk about those things, that does not mean that it doesn't exist. And secondly, we need to address it at a larger level where the system acknowledges the needs of the humanity. You know, which is, you know, the basic human right of acquiring health insurance for all. Now the last thing I wanted to say is that there are right now other limitations in terms of sex education and really ensuring that our youth are knowledgeable, which is I know there's some programs that are all abstinent. There's some that are abstinent plus where you have some more flexibility to teach about the real things that you know, children and youth nowadays they need to know. So what are we doing to ensure that the populations that we serve are getting the knowledge that they need and not just sugarcoating everything in a way that once they are out there in the real world, they don't have the tools. To really advocate for themselves and to give themselves healthy. Thank you.


Jordan Howard: Thank you so much for that. Marcella. I did see that. Dr. Harrison had a statement or question to add to the conversation as well. So the floor is yours.


Ashlyn Harrison: Thanks, Jordan. I wanted to just say that, like, oftentimes students don't know that they are covered under the 504 plan acts so that title nine as well as a rehabilitation act. The schools are actually supposed to be providing those resources so every pregnant student should actually have a 504 plan, and that covers from flexible attendance to their modified activities. And health related supports academic adjustments, all of that transportation assistance should be provided through the school system. But I think often times people don't even know that that's something that you can get an accommodation for. So, I think in order for us to like to start. Advocating for these students and also for them to start advocating for themselves, like they need to know about their educational rights. And I think it's important that every school in East Baton Rouge Parish has a 504 coordinator. Right. And so I think that when we don't hold people accountable for what they're supposed to be doing for students in schools. Things don't happen. So making sure that they're receiving counseling services within the school and not having to go outside of where they need the services provided to them, I think is instrumental in not only providing the supports to these teen moms and to these students, but also making sure that they stay in school and that they don't drop out. So I just wanted to add that little tidbit that like, we have to start teaching. At an early age about, you know, say sex practice, which we cannot talk about in schools now, unless you were talking about adoption, but we also can, if they do become pregnant, teach them how to advocate for themselves and advocate for the resources that they need. And the schools are supposed to legally be provided in those things. 


Jordan Howard: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. Literally I did not know that about as far as a resource to the students. So I think that that's kind of almost a little scary that it's not because I literally had the class president at an alternative school that I was at drop out because she was pregnant and it was her senior year. And I'm like, man, if you would have known that. Would you have stayed? Would you have finished? You know, so just like the little stories and faces that you think about that. It's like, oh, that would have been perfect for you, right? But then even thinking about and I want to ask this to you, Dr Harrison, just about, like, maybe from a policy standpoint how can we be better advocates for teen parents and teachers? Just their access to resources in general. Like, what does that look like? Are there things out there that to your knowledge that, you know, could be supported or anything like that?


Ashlyn Harrison: Yeah, I definitely think that we can't say much in schools, right? So I think that providing them a space outside of schools, or even like, to the point of the policy, I think the policy needs to shift because clearly there's a problem. But I mean, you know, we just have to advocate for that with our, with our policymakers, right? Like, we have to say, this is not working. What you said is not working. You're telling kids to abstain from sex, and if they do get pregnant to, you will teach about giving the child away versus teaching them not to have the child in the first place. That, to me, Blew my mind. I'm like, this doesn't make sense. So definitely would say partnering. I agree with what our speaker said earlier, like partnering with local organizations, providing them with the resources that they need access to. We can provide them with information. We just can't stop them from having the children, which is like the sad part. Right? So we can say, Hey, once you have the child, you can go and use these resources. We just can't go into schools and say, Here's about, here's safe sex. These are the resources before you even get to that point outside of touching them in, in spaces that are not. Funded federally by educational systems, right? There are ways in certain schools that are willing to allow you to speak to these, but you have to get permission from the parents. But I would definitely say as far as assistance, family roads are definitely helpful as well as there's a baby shower that happens. I need to, I was looking for the information as y'all were talking. It's a community baby shower that happens. There are pregnancy centers around the area. Like Catholic Charities does donations and things like that as well as there's a Women's New Life Clinic that offers counseling and support for pregnant women and teens as well. So I know that LSU and Southern University. I know oftentimes students don't see beyond high school and LSU and Southern both have grants that allow students that are on their campus that have children to be able to pay for the daycare on campus and I think it's like 20, 25 a week. So understanding that like you have that childcare assistance beyond the federal component and at your university or at your schools. I think. We'll start to make them change the perception that they cannot go to college because there are those resources on those campuses, both at Southern and at LSU locally. So yeah, those are the ones that I know, and then I'll look up some more to hopefully drop in the chat for anybody that wants to share.


Jordan Howard: Thank you. And Marcela, I do see your hand, so I will call on you. I do want to share this. to our nonprofit organizations that are on the call. There is and I'll say this on behalf of her because she wasn't able to join us this morning. But y'all should really look into the lyfe program is L Y F E. And this can give y'all up to maybe around 40 K and funding for your organizations. It used to teach an abstinence curriculum, but they kind of moved away from that just because of those barriers of getting into schools. And just parents even like, why didn't you teach my kid that? And it's like, your kid is active ma'am or sir. So they need to know, you know, with actual factual data versus finding out, like we talked about earlier Tessica from social media and different things like that. So, But they are a federal slash state funded program. That will fund your organization to teach their curriculum is very flexible. So it's a lot of room for creativity, but now they focus on just healthy relationships in general, which touches on romantic relationships, but also just professional relationships between the parent friendships, healthy friendships, different things like that. So, it really speaks to the holistic view I think. They focus on the health of a young adult in this day and age. And so again, that is L. Y. F. E. And they focus on the preferably they focus on a team at risk youth. They focus on you. Juvenile youth in the juvenile system. And really just impoverished areas, different things like that. So they're very broad to whom they're open to funding as well. So yeah, but Marcela, I saw your hand raised. So the floor is yours.


Marcela Hernandez: I was actually going to say about that one because that's the one that family road continues doing because the one that I used to teach was making proud choices. And that was an abstinence plus program, but the one that you're mentioning. My understanding is that they're still doing it. And just FYI, they go into summer camps as well. They go in, I mean, they're not only going into schools, but they have their own classes in their organization of family road. And they also go to summer camps. They go to churches. They go to any type of institution. And you are right on what you said about the parents consent, which that was one of the. you know, greatest issues because the school always thought that the parents will not give the consent. But once we were able to close the barriers of the school, parents were always grateful because, like you mentioned, they will learn about, you know, Learn about sex one way or another. So oftentimes parents are grateful that they're getting information and accurate information from a reliable source where they're not only talking about how to put a condom on, but also relationships and how healthy relationships are. I know those curriculums also have about 16 all of the social media you know, the, the risk of social media, they also include things about consent, which is, it's a big deal because a lot of girls don't know that they can say no and there's actually a legal implication if that barrier is crossed. So there's a lot of different topics, not only related to, you know, sex and how. You know, teen pregnancy should be addressed, but also how relationships should be addressed and, you know, the rights that young woman and also young man have. So definitely, if you're interested, definitely call them because the last time I talked to Dina, they were still opening that program there.


Jordan Howard: Yes, and I put the website in their general email in the chat for you guys to reach out with any questions. And even if you would just like to get more information, add them to your phone book of people and resources and connections, they'll be happy to. They are very supportive and very interested in expanding the work. So thank you for that. I did see something in the chat. Let me go back. Somebody asked. So there are some resources that are flown in the chat. So please, please, please take advantage of those. Thank you to everybody who is dropping things in there. Please continue to do so and save it. Save those resources. I did see from Simeon, somebody asked, have churches taken on a role? So I know that Healing Place and Power 225, which is a branch from the church healing place, which focuses on well, they have multiple programs, but, but I know that they have a specific area that focuses on like teen pregnancies and shucks, what is it? And like at-risk youth, but I don't want to uneducated me about that. But I would say that they're one that is very vocal in the community, visible in the community doing that work. I do know personally, my church is more on a smaller scale, but it's in the Greenwell spring off of Greenwell Springs in juror, which is kind of like area between Central and that 70806 area and it's United Christian Faith Ministries. And we have a missions team who has a fund for I forgot what it's called. It's basically like a. A fund that helps families with rent or clothing or just connecting with them with other resources that may be, you know, available in the community as well. But there is a fund for renters assistance and different things like that.


Tia Fields: Thank you for that, Jordan. Before we go into community announcements. I just want to push again. Why this conversation is fundamental. If you have a high rate of children having children you're more likely to touch a whole bunch of other things such as higher incarceration rates. Speaking with Reverend Anderson when we did a tour of the juvenile facilities and some of those children were picked up for petty theft. They were taking things such as toiletries. Some of them were filling formula in diapers because they're teen parents and they're trying to do the best that they can. Their mom or dad doesn't have it to provide to them. So they're looking for other avenues to support themselves and their families. So I wanted to bring this topic of conversation as we start off the new year. Thinking about the ways as community partners that we can make sure that we're supporting our youth all around within the parameters that we can in the educational system. And then it also flows into early childhood education, because if you have teen parents who are not meeting a certain economic threshold to have quality childhood education. Those is another cycle of children being born into a system that is not designed to see them thrive. So thank you all for who have joined the call. Thank you so much. Tessica Jordan. Thank you again for bringing that topic of conversation as well as your expertise and insights. Dr Harrison. I am now going to yield the floor to anyone who has community announcements at this time.


Casey Phillips: There is nothing going on this weekend. Everyone's kicking it. Like, nobody has any events this weekend?


Tessica Johnson: I have something.


Casey Phillips: All right.


Tessica Johnson: Okay, well, I don't have anything this weekend, but you know, I would like to. Plug our organization Dream in Demand. Please follow us on Instagram. Also, I would also like to plug our event at BRCC. We will be hosting a professional development specifically for secondary, post secondary faculty and staff, as well as industry partners, Hammer Math. I can provide that information in the chat. And just to kind of piggyback off of what we were discussing in regards to resources for teen moms or youth in the community, there's an annual OMG conference that is specifically for female youth. And the conference is held usually in the summer each year, maybe twice a year, and there are individual breakout sessions. And I know that one year there was an HIV activist. That was one of the headliners, and she spoke to the youth, you know, just about different prevention or preventive methods and I know sometimes those breakout sessions kind of have different subtopics or categories, which may focus on maybe six education. So I do want to kind of highlight that for those that are interested. And I did post that in the link. But again, please follow us on Instagram. I hope to speak to you all again and thank you so much for having me here today.


Tia Fields: It was a pleasure to have you.


Jordan Howard: Yes. Thank you. Thank you.


Tia Fields: Thank you, Jordan for Jordan Mancuso. She is saying that all the MLK events that the Walls hosted last week was amazing, a perfect way to see the community be in community with one another. The only two things that I dropped in the chat is that starting in February, it is early education awareness month. So those calls for Friday and some of the work within the coalition with education to career will have a high focus surrounding early education and the ECE fund that is going on. The current fight for that funding to be raised and make sure that our children are giving the opportunity to have a quality education. So if you guys do have it in your space make sure that you register for the event that is going to be hosted by the Louisiana policy institute for children. They will have a keynote address as well as same plugin will go for Louisiana as they will have the social media toolkits that can be used if you guys are in the early educational space. If there are no other community announcements or if Casey, if anyone wants to share anything, you guys have the floor. 


Casey Phillips: No, we can go ahead and adjourn for the day, but I do want to circle back. To keep everybody in Los Angeles County in our hearts. You know, it's like after CNN, this is kind of the nature of America at this point. As CNN cameras pull away from a tragedy, it kind of becomes out of sight, out of mind, and moves on to the next, you know, Trump crazy tweet. You know, our people in Los Angeles are suffering and it's not just, you know, not that they're the celebrities and rich people don't deserve compassion as well, which is another weird thing that we do. It's terrible no matter who lost everything that they had, but just a lot of normal folks, man. There's a lot of normal folks in the city of Los Angeles in the county that now have lost everything that they have. We now have one of the largest environmental supersites as it sits right in the middle of one of the biggest economies in our country. And it's a beautiful place and it's just really, really, it's heartbreaking. So I want to continue to lift up. And so we don't have that short memory. Our people in Los Angeles. And we know what it's like in Louisiana to lose everything from a natural disaster. So reach out to your people, even just a little kindness of a phone call and a text message or an email over to your people out there on the Cali coast. Please remember to do that this weekend.


Tia Fields: You have a personal connection to the city of Los Angeles. Okay. 


Casey Phillips: I do.


Tia Fields: Where or what are the organizations that you know that we can support in any way, whether that's monetary or other ways what is it that we can do outside of lifting up our prayers?


Casey Phillips: Yeah, there you go. I'll put together the little short list that was sent to me. One of our, you know, a digital marketing maven that has a pretty big influence out there has put together and circulating that. You know, I am a stout non believer in the Red Cross in a lot of ways, right, when it comes to disasters, but I will say that. When people's houses are on fire. They really do. That's kind of their super strength. And so this will be one of the few times where I say donate to the Red Cross because this is actually like within their superpower and they do a really great job helping families recover from fire. But I'll put together some grassroots organizations and I'll circulate it around to anybody that's interested in connecting with folks in Los Angeles, mutual aid groups and what have you. I said, please do reach out and I'm happy to connect.


Tia Fields: Thank you for that.


Jordan Howard: Maybe we can make a graphic or something to share the  information as well on our social media. Okay. And we have some comments of interest. All right, guys. Well like Tia said, there aren't any more announcements. Focus areas. Have an awesome Friday. Stay warm. And we will see y'all next Friday. Thank you, everyone. 


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