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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - February 5, 2008
Deborah Ndione Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
February 5, 2008

Las Cruces, New Mexico Resident Wins Cash Award To Launch Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program


(New York, NY, February 5, 2008) Las Cruces resident Deborah Ndione, 51, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for her community. Deborah was named this week's winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. Deborah's award will help to support Future Women - a program providing mentoring and life management skills to young women with the goal of preventing teen pregnancy and improve academic success.

New Mexico is ranked fourth in the nation for teen pregnancy and Las Cruces, located in Dona Ana County, has the highest teen birth rate in the state. Teen pregnancy is linked to poor education, child neglect and poverty. Children born to teen parents are prone to premature and low birth weight, and are more likely to be placed in foster care. Daughters of teen mothers also have a higher chance of becoming teen mothers themselves. The pressure of parenting at a young age often leads girls to drop out of school and enter the Welfare system. Deborah believes that the love and support young girls seek through intimate relationships and premature sex comes at a disastrous cost to themselves and their community, and she is committed to taking action to help change the pattern.

Deborah, a retired teacher, spent many years working to improve the lives of families in her community through various non-profit organizations, and several years ago, Deborah lived in Africa for three years to teach English. Upon returning to Las Cruces, she was shocked at the increase in teen pregnancies. With her experience with mentoring young women and a desire to make positive change, she went into action and developed the idea for Future Women. Through education and mentoring, Deborah can reach young girls and teach them healthy alternatives to achieving love, fulfillment and validation.

The Future Women program plans to work with 20 middle school girls at a time, ages 12-15, to provide them with vital skills for successful adulthood, enhance their personal growth and empower them to make healthy life choices to improve school performance and prevent teen pregnancy. Upon the completion of the program, the girls will have the opportunity to peer mentor the next group while serving as positive role models in their communities. Deborah believes that by providing a support network and positive activities, young women might escape the trap of teen pregnancy to go on to healthier lives and mentorship of their peers.

Thanks to her Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund award, Deborah will be able to launch Future Women and begin helping teen girls to build self-esteem, confidence and define themselves outside of relationships with boyfriends. The Rivers Academy, a local non-profit tutoring center, will provide meeting space. The award money will support educational trips to college campuses and museums, self-awareness retreats and career workshops, so these young women will come to appreciate the invaluable importance of education, health and personal development while building self esteem. The Hello Tomorrow Fund will help empower the young women to make intelligent, healthy choices to become positive forces in their community.

Deborah's winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund fell under the category of "Community Service." Her proposal met the criteria to clearly present unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including Suze Orman, America's most recognized expert on personal finance. "Deborah's program seems like a perfect way to offer young girls alternatives to early sexual behavior resulting in pregnancy," noted Judge Lynn Stekas. "So girls feel better about themselves they often set and achieve higher goals for themselves."

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