In news articles about teen pregnancy, we rarely see the faces or hear the voices of young women. How does becoming a young mother affect them? How do they view their lives? What advice would they give to others?
I spent a year exploring these questions in Chelsea, a primarily immigrant, low-income neighborhood near Boston, where only two-thirds of adults have graduated high school, and one-third of the teens enrolled in school live below the poverty line. While working in Chelsea, I was initially surprised by how many young mothers I encountered. Familiar with the hardships of poverty, they actively sought out opportunities to secure a better future for their children. I worked closely with a group of young moms in designing a documentary project to understand this side of young motherhood. The young women and I developed a process that would give my collaborators the chance to tell their stories.
Read the full article, Contexts 2012 11: 58
Listen to the podcast, Raising Them Right
Learn more about Amanda’s fellowship: http://lewishinefellowshipblog.org/archives/164
