The Cooperative Living Program (CLP) Program

CLP is a transitional living shelter for teen moms ages 18 through 21 and their children. We can accommodate 20 moms and up to 30 children at any one time. Each client mom can stay in the transitional shelter for up to 24 months, followed by a six-month period in the AfterCare Program for those moms in need of further supportive services once they have transitioned to a stable living environment.

CLP has built an outstanding reputation as a structured, yet nurturing, program that enables teen moms in crisis to become stable and create a healthier environment for their children.  Our program has been so successful that in 1992 the State of Illinois chose New Moms as the shelter program model used by the Department of Children and Family Services in providing housing for pregnant and parenting wards-of-the-state.  And in 2003 New Moms was selected to open the first Bright Space in Chicago and only the second in Illinois.  This play space in our shelter is part of a national initiative between Bright Horizons Foundation for Children and local homeless shelters for women and children.

In the City of Chicago, New Moms is one of only two homeless agencies serving homeless pregnant and/or parenting youth. Our shelter now provides 45.4% of all the beds available in the City for pregnant and parenting teens and 53.2% of available beds with a stay of longer than 120 days.  We are the only agency in Chicago offering shelter as well as parenting education and  job training services to this population of homeless moms and kids.  We operate at 100% capacity year-round and were forced to turn away 447 families in 2007 due to lack of room in our shelter.

Our outcomes are outstanding. In 2006 and 2007 combined:

• We provided more than 20,000 nights of shelter to over 100 young homeless families. 
• 65 teen families leaving our transitional shelter facility secured stable housing. 
• 85 youth became employed through our career programs; 59% at higher than minimum wage. 
• 174 moms enrolled in or graduated from school, a GED program, or vocational training.  In fact, the Annie E. Casey Foundation (2004) reports that only 33% of teen moms nationally will graduate from high school; but at New Moms 62% - almost double the national rate – graduated! 
• Over 21,000 meals were served during program hours to teens and their children; and 167 children received Denver II Developmental Screenings to insure that they are developing normally. 
• The repeat pregnancy rate for teenage mothers in the State of Illinois is 24%.  In 2007 at New Moms, the rate of repeat pregnancy was only 2%!  This demonstrates that we are reaching these teens and fostering a sense of future planning that will lead to self-sufficiency, stable families, and a break in their family histories of poverty and hopelessness.
  

*Outcomes are for all New Moms programs, including CLP