Growing Up Together

This Fall, there are many new students enrolled, the school can service up to 45 students and their babies at one time. 

The students can be as young as 12 years old.

All live under the poverty line, in the poorest neighborhoods of the Fruitvale District, West and East Oakland.

Many of these students and their babies are in foster youth services; living in group homes or transitional housing projects.  They have very limited financial resources.

Students who have left the school have either transferred to another Cal-SAFE site, transitioned backed to their school districts, or have dropped out of school.

All students are enrolled in WIC (Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) and with the help of Brighter Beginnings are assigned a caseworker who assists them with community services.

The majority of the students and all of the babies are on a temporary medical plan

Many girls state that getting pregnant saved their lives. They said that they had been running around in dangerous circles (gangs) and that when they got pregnant they realized that they had to make some serious changes.  Doing the right thing for their child became their main goal.

Most of these young ladies raise their children on their own, without financial help from the fathers.

Some young ladies are on Welfare, but they understand that this is just a temporary helping hand and getting a good high school education will help them get up on their own two feet, go to college and learn a profession.

The teachers daily rhetoric is: “When you get to college…” They have instilled in them that this is not the end, that they must continue their education in college. No exceptions!