The Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency's Take A Step Ahead program, known as TASA, is a comprehensive Medicaid case management service funded through Medicaid in collaboration with the Cayuga County Department of Health and Human Services who oversees the program. TASA is available to Medicaid eligible, pregnant, parenting and at-risk youth ages 10 to 22. TASA strives to promote family stability, improve self-esteem and encourage self-sufficiency.

Adolescent customers meet with case managers to set individual goals that can include preventing an unplanned pregnancy, obtaining employment, completing an education, enhancing parenting skills, budget counseling and securing basic living needs. Case managers and TASA customers plan activities and meet regularly to ensure that goals are monitored and assessed so TASA customers can consistently work toward building the life skills needed to further self-sufficiency. Case managers also provide ongoing advocacy, referrals and follow-up to customers.

TASA works collaboratively with area agencies, schools and businesses to facilitate inter-organizational communication among all parties involved with TASA youth and their families. TASA staff is continuously looking for new opportunities for customers to build skills and further their goals. The past several months have been a busy time for many customers, who have participated in activities such as cooking and nutrition classes sponsored by the Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Pregnancy Care Center's “Earn While You Learn” program and the Red Cross' Babysitting Training Course. Not only do workshops such as these provide valuable life skills, they also instill a sense of accomplishment and self-worth.

Some new and exciting programs are in the works for the up and coming months in the TASA program. TASA staff is currently collaborating with Centro, who has agreed to provide a workshop for TASA teens in order to help them navigate and utilize the local bus system. The ability to confidently use the transportation systems available in the community provides a valuable resource for customers who wish to be independent and less isolated as they are better equipped to work toward goals of employment, academics and health care.

A common goal for some of the older TASA participants is a driver's license and ultimately owning a vehicle. Several TASA customers were given financial assistance from the Agency's “I Have a Dream Program” in order to obtain their learner's permits, driving classes and driver's licenses.

However, the world of credit and finance can be confusing to even the savviest consumer and from a teen perspective is often overwhelming.

Summit Auto of Auburn has generously agreed to provide ongoing mini-workshops focusing on credit and finance for some of the TASA teens who, up the road, will need the tools to negotiate through the maze of financing options that come with owning one's own vehicle.

TASA teens work with case managers to develop problem-solving skills and build relationships that focus on the importance of teamwork. To that end, TASA is in the process of recruiting a team to participate in Odyssey of the Mind, a national organization that challenges teens to develop creative thinking and problem solving skills.

Odyssey team members compete at the local, state and national levels and in doing so are challenged to work as team in a competitive environment that fosters positive peer relationships; another valuable life skill on the road to self-sufficiency.

TASA staff is dedicated to the philosophy that those who participate in the TASA program truly are the masters of their own destiny, and is committed to providing a supportive, caring environment where all TASA participants feel empowered and are on their way to becoming confident and self-sufficient adults.

Sarah Johnston is the TASA director with Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency, Inc.