GREAT FALLS — Located inside the Paris Gibson Education Center, the Young Parents Education Center provides child care for young parents as they pursue their education. They recently received a donation of computers from Holman Aviation to help them better serve the community and children in their care.
The Young Parents Education Center also provides parenting education to young parents in high school, college, or in HiSet.
Young Parents Education Center director Susie Zeak says, “We do this so that teen moms, teen dads, young parents can continue their education, because we feel that when parents continue their education, they are more successful in life. And therefore their children are more successful.”
They don’t just provide services to young parents, however, anyone in the community is welcome to enroll their child in their care.
YPEC serves an average of 60 young parents in their Parenting Education center and around 30 children in their Child Care center every year. To better their services for the community, the center was in need of some new computers.
Zeak explains, “A lot of the applications that young parents have to fill out are online, like for food stamps or Medicaid or TANF. Everyone has a cell phone, but not everyone's cell phone is able to apply for these. Good computers are pretty pricey. And so I was just, you know, silently, like, ‘how are we going to do this?’”
United Way partners with nonprofit organizations, including the Young Parents Education Center, and helps connect them with resources like grant funding and donations.
So when Holman Aviation contacted United Way about where to donate their computers, the Young Parents Education Center was able to receive three of them.
Staff will now be able to complete online child development training easily, and the center is also dedicating a computer for their young parents to utilize for resources, filling out applications, and furthering parenting education.
To learn more about the Young Parents Education Center, click here.
