One dramatic effect of the counseling Parent Pathways provides to teen parents and their families has been the increasing involvement of young men in the well-being of their children.

Parent Pathways provides alternative schooling, direct housing assistance and family education to teenage parents, most of them Hispanic. About one-fourth of fathers get and stay involved. Nationally, statistics show that only one in 10 teen fathers takes any responsibility.

"If we can foster the idea of a father being engaged in a positive way, we want to do that," said Executive director Noreen Keleshian.

In this interview, Keleshian and Pathways community relations coordinator Kari Buchanan discuss their educational and counseling programs. Their remarks have been edited for space and clarity.

The agency has applied for Season to Share funding.

What is the basic tool of your agency?

Education is the key, so we aim at a high school diploma or a GED, primarily through the Florence Crittenton School for Teenage Mothers, 96 S. Zuni St. At any one time we have about 170 pregnant and parenting teen moms attending. We have on-site child care for about 60 babies and the outreach program for the young fathers and/or husbands of the young women in school. We have a private/public partnership with Denver Public Schools (DPS), and under their guidelines a student can be up to 21 years old.

How does your housing program work?

We help young parents with transitional housing and supportive services when they reach an age to live on their own. They tend to be post-high school; some are working on a GED or taking community college classes. Most of them are 18 or older, legal age to have their first apartments; the age range in our housing, which landlords agree to provide at low market rates, is 16 to 25. The residents may stay up to two years.

Any changes in the client profile?

Not really. The population we serve is 80 percent Hispanic; that's the specific niche we are helping. But over the last two or three years we have begun seeing more immigrant families, for whom Spanish is their first language and, in some cases, their only language. The language problem increases the difficulty in working with their families, and, because some are undocumented workers, they are unable to get public support. In recent years we've also seen an increase in young parents who don't have safe places to live - more tenuous living situations for these young women.

How do you encourage the dads?

We work individually with them, one-on-one. Some young men need to get back into school, a GED program or vocational training. Sometimes they've been through vocational programs they don't have skills for. Some need to establish paternity; others need a break from gang involvement.

How effective is your reach? How many young mothers are you not getting to?

A few statistics: In the calendar year 2006 there were 1,160 babies born to mothers ages 13-19 in Denver County, according to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment. Of the 18 and 19 year-olds, only 37 percent had a high school diploma. Our usual profile: the girl doesn't have strong support from family and is probably behind in grade level; more than 50 percent have dropped out of school. Frequently, it's the pregnancy or the birth of the baby that drives them over the edge. We kind of become the family.

Parent Pathways

* Mission: Helping teen parents raise healthy families.

* Founded: 1975

* People helped: 550-600 young parents each year

* Staff: 54

* Volunteers: 600

* Budget: $3.7 million

* Web site: parentpathways.org