Young Parents' Education Center

Serving Great Falls area high schools for thirty years as a school-based community agency, YPEC has three components to meet the varying needs of pregnant and parenting students and their children.

OUTREACH - FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER:

Family Support Specialist: Brittany Challinor, 268-6638, e-mail: brittany_challinor@gfps.k12.mt.us

GOAL: To provide daily sustained support services to assist families in assessing their strengths and developing strategic family plans to empower their progress towards building healthy, nurturing families, effective support systems and positive community involvement through continued education and self-sufficiency.

DEVELOPMENTAL CHILD CARE [Scholarships Available]:

GOAL:  To provide quality, developmental care in a nurturing environment for the infants and toddlers of young  parenting  students promoting the baby’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development during the critical first three years of development to alleviate the root cause of low self-esteem and behavioral issues.

PRENATAL/PARENTING / CHILD DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION:

YPEC/Paris Parenting/Prenatal Teacher: Deidra Haffner, 268-6665 email: deidra_haffner@gfps.k12.mt.us

GOAL: To provide a hands-on learning center for parenting education and early childhood development to pregnant  and parenting teens and young adults to promote positive parenting and prevent child abuse and neglect.

The mission of Young Parents’ Education Center (YPEC) is to empower teenage and young adult pregnant and parenting students to pursue educational opportunities that lead to independence and self-sufficiency; and to promote positive parenting enabling their babies to develop to their fullest potential.

Through easy-to-access, sustained daily activities, YPEC’s strategic approach is: to assist pregnant and parenting teenagers and young adults continue their secondary education and develop vocational plans thus preventing a life of poverty; to offer parenting and child development education to build self-esteem and to prevent abuse and neglect; and to provide nurturing, developmental care for their infants and toddlers promoting maximum growth during their crucial early years.