In May of 2000, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I was fifteen years old. I had only found out three months prior that I was pregnant. I went from being on the soccer team, watching my favorite cartoons and hanging out with my friends to instant parenting. I was a child responsible for raising a child. At times I felt alone, hopeless, and helpless.
Luckily, I had the support of others who listened to me, encouraged me, ensured I still made education a priority and provided resources that directly supported the growth and development of myself and my daughter. Because of this, in 2019 I founded the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Cradle2Career to close the socio-economic gap and provide a suite and network of equitable services to youth parents in Houston and surrounding areas. Over the years, our organization has awarded scholarships, provided counseling, college and career readiness prep, and parenting and relationship classes as a part of our Accelerated Parenting™ program to youth parents. Additionally, we provided essential items for babies and children of youth parents through our signature Fill the Bag campaign. Our other initiatives include our Moms2Prom /Tux and Tails which provides support to youth parents during prom season and our Foundations of Fatherhood mentoring program which pairs youth fathers with mentors to help them navigate fatherhood successfully.
I, along with the rest of the Cradle2Career team are excited about the opportunity to help youth parents build bright futures and healthy families.
Shekina W. Sattiewhite
Founder & Executive Director