This April marks the fourth annual Our Kids: Our Business campaign, an effort to protect Spokane's most vulnerable population, our children. This year?s focus is on mentoring, investing in our kids now, so that they can give back to the community in the future.

Investing in teen moms in our community saves taxpayer money and helps to break the cycle of poverty.

?I was freaking out because I didn't have a home. I didn't have a car. I didn't have anywhere to go,? Auctashia Yates said.

Yates, who is 20 now, got pregnant when she was 18.

?I didn't have any idea of how I was going to make a home for her. I didn't have any clue how I was going to make her feel comfortable when she got into this huge world,? Yates said.

But Auctashia has been able to build a life for herself and one-year-old Athaelya. She now lives in Aston-Bleck Apartments, transitional housing for young moms run by Volunteers of America. Moms get schooling and work while they stay there.

?This is giving them a place to be and helping them acquire the skills they need so when they're done, they're not on welfare,? Bridget Cannon, Director of Youth Services for Volunteers of America, said.

Volunteers of America runs three transitional housing programs for $200,000 a year. Compare that to the $9 Billion spent nationally on welfare and health costs for young families.

?You save a lot more money by doing preventative care, working with these moms while they're young and stopping that cycle," Cannon said.

A cycle of poverty, sometimes neglect and abuse. It?s a cycle that Auctashia Yates says she plans to break

?I'm going to teach her how important it is to have a steady career and transportation and a home for your child to be before you even think of having one," she said.