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Young people in Washington County who have dropped out of high school or are on the verge of doing so in order to raise children can now earn their diplomas without compromising their ability to be parents at the same time. The Cobscook Community Learning Center, in collaboration with the Community School of Camden, is offering Passages – a program which will surely change lives.
Passages at the Cobscook Community Learning Center (CCLC) is a home-based, self-paced, high school diploma program for pregnant and parenting teens in Washington County. For many, completing school within the public school setting after having a child is simply not possible. We know that there are young parents living in Washington County who want to finish school – to better themselves as individuals and as parents. Passages at the CCLC is offering them a way to do it.
Working primarily at home, Passages students work one-on-one with a teacher on coursework that focuses on twenty-four core skills involving parenting and life skills and academic subjects. Passages uses a model of relational education that aims to make instruction as relevant as possible. As a group, Passages students also meet regularly at the CCLC to participate in workshops that link with the core skills. Before graduation, each student designs and completes a final project called The Passage, an in-depth exploration of a particular passion, fear or need identified by and important to the student.
Passages at the CCLC has been years in the planning. The initiative began over five years ago when a young woman approached the CCLC asking for just such a program. This led Executive Director Alan Furth to engage in a series of conversations with Community School co-founder Emanuel Pariser, and over time Passages at the CCLC was born. In the years since then, these two important educational organizations have worked hard to craft the necessary agreements and to secure start-up funding. Today, Passages at the CCLC exists as the first Passages program satellite site anywhere in Maine. Passages students receive a state-approved high school diploma from the Community School.
In nearly fifteen years, over one hundred young parents have graduated from the Passages program at the Community School. They have accomplished this despite their facing multiple challenges such as poverty, violence in the home, substance abuse issues, lack of transportation, and the various demands of parenthood.
Currently, there are dozens of young adults living in Washington County who have quit school to raise their children and who could benefit from the Passages program. We will serve students between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two. The program is free to those who apply and are accepted, as the funding comes from a redirected portion of students’ public school tuition, grant funding, and other sources.
Charley Martin-Berry is the newly-hired Passages at the CCLC teacher/coordinator, and her current work includes encouraging interested students to apply to the program. Applications are available online at www.thecommunityschool.org, or call the CCLC at 733-2233 to have one sent in the mail.
By providing an empowering educational opportunity to deserving young parents, Passages can have a real impact on issues of chronic poverty, unemployment, dependency on state and federal assistance, community isolation, persistent domestic violence, substance abuse, and more. Through direct efforts with young people – with their whole lives ahead of them – Passages provides important tools to these highly motivated parents as they reach for their highest potential. And there is no doubt that increased education for young parents improves outcomes for their children.
