Baby Steps is getting an extreme makeover. The program, which works with pregnant and parenting teens to help them finish high school, will have a new look to its longtime location on Nebraska Street.
The work will update and expand the existing building by about 1,000 square feet and later build an improved playground in the yard behind the facility.
Baby Steps is a partnership of the Junior League of Norman, Norman Public Schools, Crossroads Youth and Family Services and the Center for Children and Families.
The project will cost about $200,000 and is being funded from three sources -- a $94,000 federal grant awarded to Crossroads, a $40,000 contribution by the Junior League and the rest from a capital campaign recently started by JLN.
"We just found out about the grant at the beginning of September, so it's been fast and furious," said JLN President Jolene Curry.
That has meant some busy days already and more to come, especially for Baby Steps committee co-chairs Stephanie O'Hara and Libbi Holbrook as they visit with individuals and businesses around the community about the project.
What goes on inside the building provides not just an Early Head Start program so the young mothers have a place to take their children, but also education and support for the mothers themselves.
"Moms come here for the first hour (of school)," said Angelyn Bryant, director of Baby Steps' Early Head Start program. "We do classes with them, work on some parenting things, social service issues, just kind of help them in whatever way we can."
About 130 pregnant and parenting teens have graduated high school while going through Baby Steps since its inception in 1993.
O'Hara said many of the teens in the program are working single moms or soon-to-be moms who are already living on their own, even as they also try to finish up school.
"Imagine being 16, dealing with having tests and everything while you're going to high school," O'Hara said. "Then you get up in the morning and not only have to get yourself ready but get a baby ready, too.
"Meanwhile, your friends are trying to decide where they are going to go to the movies that night."
While work on the building is ongoing, infants in the program have been moved down the street to Crossroads' facility, while toddlers are at the Community Services Building.
Work on the expansion is expected to be completed in the spring. The contractor hired to do the work is Tim Pace of TPC Construction.
Once finished, the building not only will be larger, but classroom conditions will be much improved.
"I'm not even going to know what to do with myself," said Robin Nicar, who teaches the mothers' class. "After having all those girls piled into a little room, this is going to be great. I can't wait."
For more information on Baby Steps, call the Junior League office at 329-9617.
Christian Potts 366-3544 cpotts@normantranscript.com
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