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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - February 19, 2008
Martha Braithwaite Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
February 19, 2008

Oakland, California Resident Wins Cash Award To Support Program For Teen Mothers Persuing A Secondary Education


(New York, NY, February 19, 2008) Oakland, California resident, Martha Braithwaite, 26, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for her community. Martha 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. Martha will use her award money to help support Moms Mentoring Moms (MMM) - a program dedicated to supporting teen mothers in their pursuit of a higher education to build a bridge out of poverty.

Teen parenthood can often be a one-way ticket into the vicious cycle of welfare programs and low-wage jobs. Education takes a backseat when young mothers are faced with the demanding realities of parenting. Many young women in East and West Oakland, two communities with teen pregnancy rates at one and a half times the national average, are struggling to break out of poverty. However, without the proper education, there is little chance to successfully secure a job that can foster such freedom.

Martha has been involved with civic leadership and advocacy programs for many years. She started "Diversity Day" in her high school and went on to work as an organizer for economic justice in poor communities. When Martha became a teen mother herself, she shifted her focus specifically to work that could empower women and girls.

Martha joined forces with her friend, Daphina Marshall-Fuller to found Moms Mentoring Moms. They are both teen mothers and recent graduates of Mills College in Oakland. As young mothers who found their way through college, they gained a lot of practical knowledge and wanted to pass their experience on to other similarly situated women. "We knew education was our path to long-term self-sufficiency," explains Martha. Through MMM, she and her partner are working toward developing a robust and sustainable support system for teen mothers to meet the challenges of raising children while seeking an education.

Thanks to her Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund award, Martha can provide teen mothers with information and skills to make them stronger students, better parents and smarter self-advocates. Martha and Daphina plan for MMM to facilitate upwards of 10 workshops for teen mothers in 2008 on topics such as academic success and planning for college, as well as parenting and life skills. The award will specifically fund childcare, food for the children and transportation for the participants of each workshop. Ideally, participants will complete the MMM courses to go on to mentor other teen moms. MMM has formed a partnership with another non-profit called Brighter Beginnings in hopes of capitalizing on the community's resources. Thanks to her Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund award, Martha will be able to reach more moms than ever before, enabling young women to succeed in both motherhood and academics.

Martha'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. "Teen mothers will learn first hand how to overcome obstacles, continue their evaluation, be better parents, and how to give back to the community," noted judge Anne Dowling of Martha's program. "A solid model for success."

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