Following the Star and Finding Women’s Fund There

I’ve been reading with great interest the Indianapolis Star’s recent series: Our Children. Our City. It’s their commitment to bettering the lives of Indianapolis’ children. Their news coverage and community initiatives will shine a light on the successes and failures, challenges and opportunities facing children and those who educate struggling, underperforming or at-risk children in the city's schools.

Reading the stories, I have found myself making a comparison to the work of Women’s Fund of Central Indiana and all that they are doing to support women and girls in our community. Each of Women’s Fund’s core issues play into the success of the children in our city. Insufficient income, inadequate caregiving choices, and domestic abuse in the home, with regards to mom, significantly impact the success of their children.

One program in particular I found fascinating – a program I was not familiar with until now is Future Promises. This program involves a significant impact on a girl's life and her ability to stay in school. Future Promises is helping reduce the high dropout rate by offering support and programs for pregnant and parenting high school students. With case managers in Warren Central, North Central and Pike high schools, students attend weekly parenting and prenatal class that teaches the young mothers about proper nutrition, child development and appropriate discipline techniques. Once a month the students also have a class on pregnancy prevention. Run by the Health and Hospital Corp., Future Promises is working diligently to keep teen moms in school and show them how to become good parents and how to get out of unhealthy relationships.

I appreciate what the Indianapolis Star is doing to highlight the issues facing our children. I look forward to reading about the work being done in our community to help children – and I won’t be surprised at all to learn Women’s Fund may behind a lot of the organizations doing the incredible work making a difference for our children.