Yaney’s Story
Crossing the Finish Line: Yaney’s Journey to Graduation Day
When Yaney P. arrived at Warren Village’s First Step campus two years ago, she had her mind set on one important goal: finishing high school.
She was a young single mother with a newborn daughter, Rosianny, and no clear road forward. What she found at Warren Village at First Step gave her one.
In May 2026, she crossed that finish line and earned her diploma.
It was, she hopes, the first of many milestones as she looks to build stability for herself and her daughter.
Yaney’s Path to First Step
Yaney’s path to First Step began after she separated from Rosianny’s father and moved in with her sister. A school counselor told her about the program, so she applied. Two years later, she’s completed the diploma she’s been working toward for most of her adult life.
The early days weren’t easy. Moving into a shared home with other young mothers and their babies required adjustment.
“My biggest concern when I arrived was learning how to live with other people,” she recalled. It was a lesson in learning how to share space, build trust, and coexist with strangers who were navigating the same exhausting situation she was. It took some time. But it wasn’t as hard as she’d feared.
What helped most was something she hadn’t expected: structure. At First Step, residents set goals — academic progress, financial milestones, work permits. For Yaney, those deadlines became fuel.
“When they give me a goal with a time limit, it’s easier for me to work toward it,” she said. She’s used that framework to pull up her grades in math, pursue her work permit, and stay on track for graduation.
"If you fall 20 times, you get up 20 times. You have to keep going."
Getting There
One of the most difficult parts of many parents’ lives, including Warren Village parents, is logistics.
Before Warren Village arranged transportation through a local car service, Yaney was making the trip to school and back on foot. Having reliable transportation removed a barrier that had been quietly draining her energy.
The new arrangement has freed up more energy for school, where she focused on her toughest subject: math. Her Warren Village advocates helped her set goals in the courses, she says, and it has helped considerably that her teachers speak Spanish.
For Yaney, being able to ask questions and process material in her first language made the difference between falling behind and catching up.
Rosianny, now two, has grown up inside these walls. She doesn’t know any other home. In some ways, that makes the graduation even more significant — it belongs to both of them.
Finding Her Own Limits
When asked what strengths she’s discovered about herself at First Step, Yaney didn’t talk about resilience in the abstract. She talked about limits. “I learned that I have a limit as a person,” she said — something she didn’t know before. “And my strength is that I can be on my own, and I can show that I’m capable of being on my own.”
Yaney originally came from Colombia, where she’d also tried and not been able to finish school. So this transition marks the end of a very long chapter.
Her description of First Step’s program: “They give you a puzzle — complete, but out of order. And you have to put the pieces together yourself.” The resources are there. The support is there. But the work was hers to complete.
What Comes Next
After graduation, Yaney plans to stay at First Step a while longer. She wants to find a job, build savings, and eventually rent her own apartment. Yaney knows the program gives her that runway, and she intends to use it wisely.
To other young mothers who might be where she was two years ago, her advice is direct: “If you fall 20 times, you get up 20 times. You have to keep going.”
And to the donors who make First Step possible, she wants them to understand something simple: “It’s not just a program. It’s my home. For me and for my daughter.”
