Nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies occur every year, and according to the CDC, more than 50% of those mothers never graduate high school. Teen pregnancy is a challenge that is common but also incredibly ignored.

It is because of these daunting statistics that the Department of Education in New York instilled the LYFE Center program forty years ago. According to LYFE’s website, that even though having kids as a teenager is a huge challenge, it shouldn’t cost you your education and future. In those same forty years this program has helped over 600 children and student parents.

The LYFE center has almost thirty locations in all five boroughs, the majority being in Brooklyn.

One of those locations is here at Tele, located on the first floor right as you enter the new wing.  Some of the students refer to it as, “that room where all the babies are crying”.

“Many people see LYFE as just a daycare, but it is more than that,” says Michelle Nelson, head teacher of the LYFE Center here at Tele. Our very own Head Teacher was a 2020 Big Apple Award recipient, a prestigious award given to few teachers each year in New York. LYFE does not only watch and feed the children, they are also giving them early education by qualified teachers.

The LYFE center operates five days a week, as a normal daycare would. However, the clientele are mostly high school students, so the accessibility of the program is what’s key.

In 2018, over 140 student-parents graduated high school with accolades. We can only expect that number to rise as more teenagers become aware of this program and accessibility in buildings continue to expand.

LYFE continues to help and teach countless student-parents that their livelihoods and future goals do not have to end because of the challenges that come with having a child.