Teen Success, Inc.

As housing prices and cost of living continues on an upward trend in the Bay Area, it is more and more critical that young mothers obtain a post-secondary education to move their families out of poverty. Data from the Insight Center for Community Economic Development shows that even some college is insufficient to cross the self-sufficiency threshold. A key indicator of college persistence is for young mothers to successfully finish their first year of post-secondary. By ensuring that young mothers are set up to succeed in college, they better their future outcomes and their children’s, as parental education is a primary indicator of a child’s academic success. In addition, by helping young mothers succeed in college, we are all positively impacted. Right now, the associated public costs of a young mother dropping out of high school are approximately $216,000 over the course of her lifetime. In addition, the cost to taxpayers associated with a child born to a teen mother is $1,682 each year of the child’s life from birth through age 15. This equates to a minimum cost close to $250,000 and doesn’t take into account the additional costs of a child of a teen parent who also drops out of school. Every dollar invested today in a young mother through Teen Success, Inc. saves taxpayers $17 dollars. Our goal is that once successfully piloted in the Bay Area, the post-secondary program can then be rolled out to the 7 other communities we currently serve. We will then comprehensively and seamlessly support the success of young mothers through high school and their first year of post-secondary education as we continue to expand the number of young mothers we empower to break the cycle of poverty for their families throughout the Bay Area and the state.