I was well on my way and had thought of everything. All that I needed now was MONEY !!!!

Applying for funding can be very tricky; different criteria for each awarding body. I chose the ones which best suited my organisation and me, and took the time to fill out the HUGE application form before the agonising wait for the result.

27 July 2007
‘Congratulations me’ I found out that the Big Boost awarded me £4000 for my project which I will receive in two installments directly into my business account. The first installment came this week and it gets really scary because now the real work begins. Although £4000 is a lot of money for which I am very grateful for, when it comes to setting up a project it’s not all that much so making sure that every penny is spent wisely and stretching it as far as it can go is the first task. The construction of the website is going to be the most expensive thing, so far I have received some outrageous quotes (if there’s anyone out there that builds websites drop me a line). Because I've never done anything like this before, I am having a difficult time working out how much things should cost. Anyway watch this space because things should start to happen really quickly now.

The only problem with that is that I had such a wide variety of quotes and each one claimed to be able to deliver exactly what I wanted. I had quotes which ranged from £900 to £20,000. I couldn’t work out what the difference was between them.

Anyway like with any other service sometimes word of mouth is the best way to find out who can deliver. A guy named Richard Coley was introduced to me to design my site at a very reasonable price and so far he is doing an amazing job. My site is finally in full swing and all that is left to do right now is approve the design then I can start supplying the content.

Sep 2007
I was recently given the opportunity to write an article for Your Camden magazine for sexual health week, which took place between the 6th–12th of August. The main focus was to introduce equally distributed information
and access to health services throughout Camden amongst all the different areas of the population.

As part of the sexual health week Camden had planted a bus loaded with information outside Somerfield in Camden. I visited the sexual health bus where I met with Julie Edgecombe from the Primary Care Trust and two
of her colleagues from the health promotion team who were in the bus, giving away a mixture of health information and free contraception. They were also introducing some of the latest campaigns in Camden, the
freedom scheme and UrLife campaign. The Freedom scheme is an online shop, which sells the highest quality condoms in a huge range and variety at the lowest prices www.Freedoms-shop.com. The Urlife campaign by
Camden is targeted at young people publicising emergency hormonal contraception and local sexual health services, for more info www.ruthinking.co.uk

Click HERE to read my article is on page 15 of Your Camden September 2007 issue .

Dec 2007
The pressure is on I have very limited time left to complete this project.

I have been working closely with my designer to finish the template for the site so that the content can be added. If you visit www.tpp.org.uk you can have a look at the template and tell me what you think. Gathering the content has been the most challenging part so far, the information has to be relevant and presented in an effective way. Because the aim of the site, which is to offer advice and guidance to vulnerable young people, I have met with several practitioners and professionals that work within Camden to ensure that all the information that I provide is responsible and correct.

The areas that I would like on the site are health, education, housing, and benefits, among others. I also want to give young parents the opportunity to share their experiences with other young parents, an area I call 'True Stories’. I have been running a competition at Coram for young parents to submit their stories with the chance to win £50. If there are any readers out there who are or were young parents and would like to enter this competition please email me.

Jan 2008
Finally designed and completed the logo for the site. What do you think? It took me ages to create a design that I was happy with.

The next step is to start creating the marketing material for the site. Posters, leaflets, advertisements, which will help me get word out that this fantastic new service is available.

Feb 2008
Finally! The Launch is going to be on:
7th April 2008
Foundling Museum
40 Brunswick Square

It was important for me to be within close vicinity to Coram who was very instrumental in my journey to university, they supported me during me teen parent years.

Now, the fun part: I have been arranging the catering, the entertainment and most important of all, promotional gift bags with the TPP logo filled with all kinds of goodies.

If you would like to be on the guest list please email me.

Mar 2008
Very nervous about launching the site, I have loads of work due in at university, an exam next month and the launch of the TPP site. I hope that it turns out as planned and all the hard work pays off.

In desperate need of some inspiration I found out that Cupcake Brown, author of the book 'A piece of cake' was in town, to do a talk and sign copies of her book. It was after reading her book that I felt inspired to create this project. Although I had always had the project in mind I hadn’t felt motivated enough to get it started until I had read about her strength and courage. She is the epitome of strength and meeting her and asking her questions about her achievements gave me just the boost I needed to get back to work.

Thank you Cupcake, I strongly recommend this book to all.