The Abell Foundation has awarded a $60K matching grant to Promise Heights via B’more for Healthy Babies Upton/Druid Heights (BHB-U/DH) to support the new Teen Parenting Success (TiPS) program in West Baltimore from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.
This new multifaceted program will serve thirty pregnant teenagers and their partners in West Baltimore over the coming year, with the aim to achieve pregnant and parenting teens’ self-sufficiency and to lower preterm birth rates within the neighborhood’s historical average. The program will also support postpartum teen engagement in school, vocational training, and/or employment opportunities to build future family success.
The TiPS program will initially work with teens at Renaissance Academy and Frederick Douglass High School—two high schools within the current Promise Heights footprint of the Upton/Druid Heights and Mondawmin neighborhoods. As its capacity allows, Promise Heights will expand this program to other nearby high schools.
It is anticipated that 75% of new mothers participating in this BHB-U/DH program will have re-enrolled in school, enrolled in a training or GED program, or have begun applying for jobs by 3-months postpartum, as well as to either remain adherent to their original plans to reduce or delay subsequent pregnancies by 75%, or to create a new plan.