Boys to Men
Boys to Men provides 11 to 16 year-old boys in the South Bronx a safe environment after-school, at school and during the summer months to keep them safe, in school and planning for their futures. Mentoring, counseling, and meaningful activities stress the advantages of staying away from gangs, avoiding teen fatherhood and becoming connected to the community.

Boys to Men provides tutoring, educational guidance, workshops on social and sexual issues, sports and field trips, a computer lab, male role models and an opportunity to develop healthy friendships.

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Mother/Baby Foster Family Care
The Inwood House Mother/Baby Foster Care program, pioneered in 1968, places teenage mothers and their new babies in foster homes where both benefit from a safe, healthy family environment and the young mother has the opportunity to nurture her baby while she continues her education and prepares for a career. The support and stability of a foster home can make a critical difference in helping a teen mother develop a strong emotional bond with her child, become a responsible parent and achieve independance.

In 2002, Inwood House opened its first Mother/Baby Foster Care small group home for three new mothers and their infants in Jamaica Estates, Queens. With 24-hour care and supervision, the young mothers benefit from adult guidance and peer support, pursue school and work, and learn how to be independent in the context of a safe, structured environment.

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Nancy and her social worker developed a plan and a set of goals for Nancy’s future upon leaving the Maternity Residence. It was important to Nancy to be able to come home to her family, but she knew she needed ongoing support. Through intensive family intervention therapy, we were able to reunite Nancy with her mother and three siblings. After leaving the Residence to go home, she joined the Inwood House Partners in Parenting program, and since that time eleven years ago, she has continued to attend ongoing group workshops in parenting, family planning, education, and parent/child communication. Once a shy young woman, she has taken a leadership role in the program - often reaching out to motivate newer members - and became one of the program’s first Peer Mentors.

One of Nancy’s goals was to finish high school and enroll in a college degree program. Unable to stay at home with John and attend school at the same time, she enrolled her son in the Inwood House Family Day Care program. Knowing he was safe with his day care provider, Nancy was able to focus on her school-work and graduate. She enrolled in a C.U.N.Y. college full-time, but when her financial aid was spent, she moved to part-time school and work. Her Inwood House social worker assisted her with in obtaining employment at a prestigious New York City teaching hospital in the coronary research division, and she has continued to work part-time while finishing her degree. The Inwood House scholarship fund helps pay for books and fees. She plans to graduate this year with a major in community health education, and wants to pursue a career as a health educator.

Six years ago, Nancy decided she was ready to help other young women. She became one of the first Partners in Parenting members to complete the Inwood House Peer-to-Peer Mentor training making her a certified peer mentor. Nancy states, "Not having role models is what makes us so open to peer pressure. You can't make it without a support system, at least one person to trust." Since that time, she has successfully mentored over twenty pregnant adolescents from the Inwood House Maternity Residence. She has guided them through many difficult challenges and life issues including: death and dying, physical and emotional abuse, foster care, labor and delivery, nutrition, substance abuse prevention, and effective parenting. In addition, last year, she served a semester-long internship with the Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program as an assistant to the Peer Mentoring Coordinator.

Always working to improve her job readiness, Nancy has diligently readied herself for a full-time career in health education by participating in the Inwood House Career Development Program. Recently, Nancy became one of the first Inwood House young people to complete The New York Junior League’s Steps-to-Success Program, a six-week job-readiness and retention training in which she worked one-on-one with a corporate volunteer who provided her with individual job coaching and mentoring. In addition, she is working with the Inwood House Job Developer to research full-time job opportunities after graduation.

Nancy’s effective parenting skills have been demonstrated by her son’s academic success and extra-curricular activities; he is on the honor roll, plays little league baseball, and Nancy is enrolling him in the Inwood House Boys-to-Men after-school program in the near future. Both she and her son have maintained a good relationship with John’s father, and he has assisted the family financially with John’s education.

Nancy remains actively involved with the Partners In Parenting program and is a positive role model for all of our young people.

The Inwood House Scholarship Fund

When Inwood House young people are ready to attend college or other advances learning programs, financial aid from the Inwood House Shallcross Scholarship Fund assists them with money for applications, tuition, books, transportation, special housing, and child care needs. Click here to download the current Scholarship application!