Nicole Lynn Lewis is the author of Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families, as well as the founder of the nonprofit organization Generation Hope. Nicole is no stranger to the challenges faced by teenage student parents, especially having been one herself, and has been on a mission to spark systemic change and support student parents through her book and her organization. In this episode, she talks with Diverse host Jamal Watson about the details of her recently released memoir and issues a call to action for supporting teen mothers, student parents, and young families. Tune in as Nicole sheds light on this often-overlooked student population and find out what can and should be done to acknowledge and support the student parent community.

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KEY POINTS / MAIN TAKEAWAYS:

• The motivation and mission behind Pregnant Girl.
• Impacts of the pandemic on student parents.
• The evolution of the student parent and teen parent experience over the past 20 years.
• Day-to-day challenges faced by student parents.
• How higher education institutions have been addressing student parent needs.
• What is Generation Hope about and what does it do?
• Policies that keep parents of color from entering and graduating college.
• The importance of childcare provision policies for student parents.
• How can we be of help and service to student parents?

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QUOTABLES:

“We're not talking about them. We're not making sure that we understand their experiences and their needs. And there's so much work that has to be done to start putting them on the radar of institutions and policymakers. And I'm hoping that this book does that.”

“A lot of our policies or processes are reactions. And our lack of support comes from this idea that, you know, young people are fine, they have a pregnancy, and then they spiral out of control.”

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PRODUCTS / RESOURCES:

Visit the Generation Hope website at https://www.generationhope.org/

Follow Generation Hope on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/supportgenhope/?hl=en

Follow Generation Hope on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SupportGenHope

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In The Margins is produced by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education and edited by Instapodcasts (visit at www.instapodcasts.com)