Our little center, which had about forty visits a month when we started the program, exploded. The volunteers were happy because they were not only teaching but bonding with their clients. Fathers started coming, and we had to make “daddy dollars.”
As our numbers grew, our volunteers simply could not keep up with their clients’ hunger for knowledge. Unfortunately, our program lacked a curriculum that was well organized, easy to present, and easy to understand. A year later, the EWYL curriculum was in place. It contains two hundred lessons in forty modules that take a young woman from early pregnancy to the toddler years, with a lesson and a homework assignment for each one-hour session. The lessons cover pregnancy, postpartum care, the developing pre-born, the emotional needs and physical care of a newborn, first aid, foundations of discipline, abstinence, and much more. Each client receives a personalized lesson plan that maps out each week’s lesson.
Not only did our clients respond, the community did also. Businesses love the EWYL approach and have underwritten much of our expenses. While a community might be hesitant to support a program providing the sole service of pregnancy testing, our community has been eager to get behind this program that teaches young mothers parenting skills.