Vita Centre provides the Peel Region community with opportunities to improve its awareness and understanding of the reality of single youth parenting. Vita Centre encourages greater support for pregnant women and their families through outreach, advocacy and public education.

Education and Prevention for Youth

A staff member will provide school classrooms with information about unplanned pregnancy and the reality of being a single mother. A young parent may join staff in the presentation to help raise awareness and share her experiences with youth.

Topics covered in the presentations:

• Vita Centre programs and services
• Facts on unplanned pregnancy
• The reality of a single mother- financial, emotional, housing, support, facts on single parent household
• Common myths about Teen pregnancy
• Social issues common among single mothers

If you are interested in booking a presentation please contact the office.

To raise awareness in the community Vita Centre will:

• Make presentations, based on research and experience, to community and inter-agency groups
• Promote information and our services through newsletters, Pamphlets, special events, website etc
• Provide facts and research to services who work with youth, e.g. school guidance departments, church ministers, welfare workers, community health nurses etc
• Participate in health fair events, information displays etc

• 39,945 Lone parent families live in the Peel Region (Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 2001)
• Out of 1000 women between 15-19 years old, 32.8 became pregnant in 1999 across the Peel Region (Health Planning Division, Peel Health Department, 2003)
• In 2004, almost 10,300 admissions, including almost 2,300 children, were made to homeless and emergency shelters across Peel.