In 2023<\/a>, Lee County recorded 20.8 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, compared to 18.4 across Florida and 19.3 nationally.<\/p>\n\u201cI thought I wasn\u2019t going to graduate,\u201d she said. \u201cThen I got here and thought, \u2018Oh, I might make it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
She hopes to eventually become either a nurse or a forensic investigator. Fifteen-year-old Kahlani Domaso became pregnant at 14 and said she was terrified to tell her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought she was going to kick me out,\u201d Domaso said.<\/p>\n
Instead, her mother, Michelle Hemingway, became her support system. Hemingway said she understood her daughter\u2019s situation immediately because she had also been a teen mother. She became pregnant with Kahlani at 19.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was rough,\u201d Hemingway said. \u201cBut I wanted to support her and show her it was going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Hemingway says she wants other young mothers to know they can still thrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is stopping them from getting an education or becoming what they want to become,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Eighteen-year-old Khamoni Mallory is preparing to graduate while raising her 1-year-old son. Through a partnership with a neighboring trade school, she plans to continue into a welding certification program after graduation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited to graduate,\u201d Mallory said. \u201cI had a point where I was discouraged about school. I dropped out and came back.\u201d<\/p>\n
YPEP also partners with the Harry Chapin Food Bank to provide diapers, formula, clothing and other essentials for both parents and babies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re pretty much spoiled. They give us like, anything we want. We have a pantry full of snacks and clothes and shoes. Like, yeah, resources and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enrollment in the program is free and open year-round. The organization says its Lee County schools earned the highest possible \u201cCommendable\u201d rating from the Florida Department of Education.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not alone,\u201d Vazquez said. \u201cYou have teachers, resources, hope. Don\u2019t ever quit on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and\u00a0donate now<\/a>. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sixteen-year-old Britany Vazquez thought becoming a mother might end her chances of graduating high school. Now she spends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-272847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}