A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Community-Based, School-Linked Programs

Lula Belle Stewart Center, Inc.

Mission:

Provide services that promote the well-being of children and youth and enable pregnant and parenting adolescents and young adults to become self-sufficient, responsible parents. Provide permanent and secure homes for children and youth who are in temporary domiciles and safe, affordable housing for young, low-income families, homeless persons, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens.

LBSC, in existence since 1972, is a school-linked program located in four urban community-based sites in metropolitan Detroit that offers a wide range of services to pregnant and parenting teens and young adults, their families, and their children. On an annual basis, the center serves approximately 245 pregnant teens, 232 teen mothers, 74 teen fathers, and on-site child care for 53 children. Clients are African-American (97 percent), white (2 percent), and Hispanic (1 percent), 12 to 21 years old.

LBSC is a comprehensive community-based program offering services to pregnant and parenting teens and young adults, their children and families. The center works collaboratively with schools, religious institutions, private industry, and community groups. Case managers integrate referral services for adolescent parents, ensuring coordinated delivery of services to address the emotional, social, and developmental needs of program participants. LBSC also engages in ongoing advocacy, public education, and community action to influence public policy and issues affecting the lives of children, youth and families.

The center provides an array of services designed to promote the health, safety, and well-being of program participants and to encourage their independence and self-sufficiency. These include home-based counseling, pregnancy prevention services, child care, parenting education, early childhood development services, specialized foster care for teen parents and their infants, traditional family foster care, and adoption services. The center also sponsors a male responsibility program and a transitional-living apartment facility for mothers and their infants.

Lula Belle Stewart Center offers a Care Program, Teen Parent Case Management Program, and Home-Based Counseling Program. Each uses a different design model and different intervention strategies, but similar goals and outcomes enable the Center to recover consistent cross-program data and evaluate success. Each program features individual, family and group counseling, assessment, and referral to needed community resources and provides direct assistance to alleviate situational problems experienced by teen parents. Problem areas addressed are housing, finances, employment, secondary education, career and vocational training, prenatal, postnatal, and preventive health care, parenting skills, transportation, and family relations. Through home visits and extensive outreach activity, case managers see to the emotional, social, and developmental needs of those seeking LBSC services.

Referrals for services are generated from various community organizations, but most teen participants are self-referred. The average length of service is 6 to 12 months.

Internal measurement tools include case assessment forms, monthly statistical reports, client medical records, and self reports. In addition, the program undergoes independent evaluations.

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