NEW ORLEANS — Young parents in New Orleans are getting the help they need to earn a college degree with organizations like Generation Hope. The road to graduation can be difficult, including keeping track of classes, earning stable income, and finding dependable childcare, but Generation Hope is removing those barriers with wraparound service programs.
For over a decade, Generation Hope has served 300 teen parents and their families in Washington, D.C., and it's celebrating its first year serving young parents in New Orleans.
Nicole Lynn Lewis founded the organization in 2010 to help young mothers navigate the path to academic success while handling parenting responsibilities.
"I couldn't find a nonprofit that was doing this work," said Lewis. "And I knew it was so needed in terms of how we help families experience economic mobility."
As a young mother attending college with her three-month-old daughter, she remembers the hardships of commuting, figuring out childcare, and being told that graduating with a child would be impossible. "I graduated the four years and my daughter walked across the graduation stage with me," she said.
Lewis said she started the nonprofit to address the lack of resources and support for young families.
"In D.C., we know that 40 percent of teen moms in public schools are getting a high school credential. And nationally, fewer than two percent of teen moms get a degree before age 30," Lewis explained. "So this work is overdue."
She hopes to ease the burden with tuition assistance, emergency funding, and collecting tangible items from the community.
"So diapers, baby wipes, laptops, all sorts of things to ease the financial burdens of being a parenting student," Lewis said.
Currently, Generation Hope serves 35 teen moms and dads in the Greater New Orleans area.
The program provides services such as mental health support through virtual one-on-one and group sessions, career guidance for finding internships and jobs, free tutoring, and mentorship for parents.
Their Scholar Program provides parenting students $1,200 a year in scholarship funds and $2,400 a year for students enrolled in four-year colleges. Emergency funding is also available for young parents dealing with financial crises.
Thirty percent of Generation Hope Scholars go on to get an advanced degree.
Alyssa Medrano, 24, is one of the 35 students in the program in New Orleans. She's been in the program for over a year. Medrano said she felt a lot of pressure and faced the stigma of being a single mother raising her daughter, who is now four years old.
She's currently a student at Delgado Community College pursuing a transfer degree in social sciences.
"I met my mentor on Zoom, and that was accommodating to me because I wasn't able to go and meet them because I'm a full-time student and full-time employee," Medrano said. "I appreciate that so greatly because I can't always meet during the 9-to-5 business hours."
Being a Generation Hope scholar has given Medrano the resources she needs to focus on school, including mental health services.
"For a while, I needed a therapist and that was something that was very detrimental to my success because I was not able to show up as my best self," she said.
Medrano said it's the simple things that make all the difference.
"I think it just helped me be open-minded to things. It helped me stay more consistent with my schoolwork and my responsibilities," Medrano shared.
She also has weekly and monthly check-ins with her mentor.
For Medrano, she said Generation Hope helped her find joy, "I think joy drives a lot of our motivation and self-esteem."
The program hopes to serve more parents in New Orleans. Within five years, they plan to serve 75 teen parents in college yearly.
Lewis said the program helps address inequities that young parents face.
"They can do amazing things that all of us benefit from. Not just that child, not just that parent, but our entire community benefits from."
Learn more about Generation Hope here, if you're a scholar looking to join the program, sign up here.
Generation Hope
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
