£. Nettie McCrory: W.
.Program director
M ~a,^«__ Innovative >.:
Pregnancy Prevention Program
By Audrey C. Lodato
[ Teenage resident* aptwo Char
*W® houaing projects are partici
; pants in an innovative pregnancy
- prevention program caBid “Teem
N’ Touch.”
Begun two and a half year* ago
- under the auspices of the Urban
? the program has taken a
turn in direction over the past six
months, with a director, Nettie
iMcCrory.
“Previously, it was a pregnancy
program,” UcCTOry explains.
.■* ‘We’ve turned it into a pregnancy
prevention program.”
vaK* Homes. The goals of the pro
gram are to preys* initial preg
nancy and keep foe youngsters In
; sc{*0®*- Ft* those who drop out of
■Wool “we see if we can im
mediately gat them Into a GED
program,” McCrory says. >•' '
The program work* on an eight
attend after regular
from about 4-7 p.m. “We
’.With education and
; eolation planning,” the
. ports. : iT?" *•* ./•
•' mao auenoing toe reception wort
: Benjamin Ruffin, vice president and
Special assistant to president
Kennedy; Malvin Moore III, NCM
[public relations director; George
•Ptesens, NCM Regional Agency
.Director; Waiter Twitty, retired
Manager of NCM’4 Charlotte As
trtct; Dr. Mildred Baxter Davis, a
Third Ward community leader and
In ember of the N.C. Soil and Water
Conservation Commission; Robert
Davis, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg
schools principal and taw-time .
member of the Mecklenburg County
Democratic Party; Kathleen
Crosby, area superintendent for'
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools;
Sarah Stevenson, a member of the
Mecklenburg County Board of Edu
cation; Charlie DanaeUy, a Char
Iptte-Mecklanbtrg Schools principal
and member of the Charlotte City
Council; Kelly Alexandw Jr., presi
dent of the N.C. Conference of
Branches of the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) and mem
bar of the NAACP board at Arec
tors; and N.C. Sen. Mel Watt,
D-Mecklenburg.
A highlight of Sunday’s reception
was a presentation by NCM sales
agent J. J. Crawford, who told
Kennedy and Nowlin that bis
Asheville-based group of agents told
$204 in new business last week
The average weekly amount In new
business for a Charlotte district
sales group la between $804100
ferred by other students and agen
das AtpreesnLtaffeare more boys
Overall, 200 studmts he^fpar
tlcipated.
Attractions for the students in
clude karate classes, which, says
McOory, helps develop self-esteem
and self-discipline, and field trips to
provide cultural enrichment. -7
Teens N’ Touch operetee on a
point system. When prH^panW
reach a certain number of points,
they get to go out for some acuvity
withe “role model.” * concept stall
She adds that the program has few
dropouts, and these who do leave
before completing the eight weeks
uwally do so becaum' of schedule
w^^and tsuslly return at a
Parents are involved through a
parent committee
An advisory committee?'
dudes businesspeople,'ateedwcTa
student, and the president of a
housing project group. The com
mittee helps Teens N’ Touch stay on
top of what’s happening locally.
UNC-Charlotte is conducting a
study to see how effective the pro
gram has been ;?• .. g
Fttndlng for the program comes
-from the United Way and tbe .
Charles Stewart Mott famdatkn of
St. Louis.
MeCrory, a former family life
education teacher in Baltimore, MO,
is obviously excited about Teens N’
Touch.
“I want this program te fly,” she
emphasizes. “Somebody should be
helping these Uds.”
I . ....
.. ^ByLoretUMwgo
Looking «t reruns of "The Brady
Bunch" moat people would get die
idea that when a man and a woman
who both had children from a pre
vious marriage married each otlmr,
everything ran smoothly, with die
exception of an occasional dis
agreement.
“Not so," says Chris Boone, presi
dent of the local chapter of the
Stepfamily Association of Ameri
ca, Inc. and s stepmother.
‘That’s ooe of the biggest myths
that people have of families that
include children from other rela
tionships.” According to Mrs. Boone
it is more the exception than the rule
that a family that falls under the
heading of remarried family or step
family operates under the same
conditions that a nuclear family
(two natural parents and their off
springs) does.
Agreeing with that statement, Irv
Eddiestein of United Family Ser
vices added, “People are under the
false impression that the stepfamily
is similar .to the normal family, bat
it’s not. The issues are different and
so are the concerns." '
While other myths have zeroed in
an the stepfamily Including the one
that began with the fairytale,
"Cinderella” of the wicked step
mother, it is not myth that the
stepfamily or remarried family is
growing larger everyday. Statistics
show that by 1990, the number of
stepramuiec and single parent
households will be greater than the
number of traditional families. Pre
sently, one out of every five chil
dren live with a stepparent and S M
million women have hweaipe step
mothers in the last five years.
“These unions bring with them
people who have no formal guide
lines to follows as bow stepfamiUea
are to behave. StepfamUies have to
find their own way," cited Mrs.
Boone.
One organization that is trying to
reduce the anxieties of atepfamlliea
as writ as be a source of infor
mation for them is Stepfamily Asso
ciation of America. Founded by
Emily and John Visher, the organi
zation provides educational, mate
rial, acts as a central clearing house
as well as lobbying force in
Congress.
According to Mrs. Boone, the na
tional organization baa already aue- ,
ceeded in establishing a “Step
parent's day” in certain states.
“They have also struck an agree
ment with a national greeting card
company to begin m»Hng • tap
parent cards.
In farming the local chapter of
good idea if others who were ex
periencing Similar problems c<M0d
come' together under a forum of
support “Right now we’re a small
group. There are still a lot of
stepparents who are in the closet
and are afraid to. admit that they
don’t have a perfect home life. What'
they’re trying to do is to live under
guidelines (hat society has handed
out and even though it’s not work
ing. they’re not ready tb admit to
rThere are a lot of” unrealistic
expectations that go into a remar
ried family,” began Eddiestein.
“Some xi these expectations are
spoken as well as unspoken. The
moat common One would have to be
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that everybody will automatically
love one another. Most of the time
the people don’t even know each
other.” Adding to that, Mrs. Boone
stated, “It takes years before there
la e strong eenee of family formed in
this new family unit. Far my family
it took abbot four years. What I
found were that the first couple of
years were the most difficult, but as
time went on things got easier.”
Perhaps the strongest conoerM
that Eddiestein and Mrs. Boone
voiced were that the stepparent try
not to replace the biological parent
and that they try not to act as if the
other members of the extended
family don’t exist
“A stepparent shouldn’t have to
act like the parent that’s no l««er
there,” cited Bddlestoto.
“It’s a disaster when a step
parent tries to replace the natural
parent, regardless if that parent is
living of dead. We’re not biological
parents so we shouldn’t have to act
or feel like ode,” reinforced Mrs.
Boone.
“A stepparent shouldn’t try to
dismiss her or his mate’s children. *
Even if they’re not living with you,
you’re still a stepparent, nor can you
dismiss die Influence of the non
custodial parent. None of these
concerns have to be looked upon as
negatives, but they need to be ad
dressed.”
One piece of advice that Mrs.
Boone gives is that stepparents
should stop concentrating on what
they are not and concentrate on the
things that are, only then, she sur
mises, can a stepparent work to
wards a positive relationship.
Four Seminars
The possibilities for managing
P.M.S. are looking good.
WomanReach and Community
Health Association will sponsor the
first of a series of seminars
Monday, December 2, from 6:30
8:30 p.m. at the Community Health
Association offices. The topic: “Pre
Mentrual Syndrome: Interpersonal
Relationships,” will be presented
and discussed by Linda Combs
Shepherd and Alice Van Gelder.
Women and men are encouraged to
attend all four semiharo. %£ 'P\ • '
WomanReach is S United Way
agency. Tha facilities are handi
capped accessible and services are
freely given and freely received.
For more information and to re
gister, call a WomanReach peer.,
counselor, Monday through Satur
day, from 10 am. to 4 p.m., at
334-3614.
Yolanda Gettyft
st fhrt McCWlan, Ala.
Dmtog the training, students re
Q^6d instruction in drjll and
ceremonies, weapons, map
reading, tactics, military cour
tesy, military justice, first aid, and
Army history and fractions.
She ia a 1965 graduate pf Harding
High School, Charlotte
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