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Abstract:
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This essay grows out of the experience of teaching a Women’s Studies service-learning
seminar entitled “Single Motherhood in the Contemporary U.S.: Myths and Realities.”
It identifies the challenges that arose as the professor and her students sought to
support the mission of the Family Development Research Program, a grant-funded
program designed to provide a variety of mentoring services to teenaged mothers.
The article identifies obstacles activist teachers and students are likely to encounter
as they partner with social service workers to create ambitious, sustainable programs
for young and low-income women. Among the topics discussed are the challenges
of bridging class divides, addressing space and funding needs, and dealing with
transportation and liability issues. The students designed and implemented a broad
range of programs that were useful not only to the teen mothers, but also to several
other groups of low-income single mothers, such as those residing at a local homeless
shelter and those participating in a PA Department of Welfare-sponsored program.
The essay concludes by noting how valuable partnerships between a college and
multiple social service agencies can be when one is attempting to build and sustain
programs that depend on grant funding. The closing words are given to two teenaged
single moms, who speak of the important role these collaboratively designed support
programs have played in their personal and academic development. |