This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.

Date:  September 29, 1995
For Release:  Immediately
Contact:  HHS Press Office, (202) 690-6343

The grants, to 15 community-based demonstration programs in 13 states, are part of HHS' Adolescent Family Life program.

"We need to learn more, and do more, to help our teenagers say no to early sex, and say yes to healthy and productive life choices. That's what these grants are all about," said HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala.

The projects will encourage teens to avoid early sexual activity, teach broadly about protecting their health, and provide teens who have become parents with the tools they need to become responsible parents while continuing to further their educational and career goals. The grants are also aimed at helping teens who do become pregnant to learn parenting skills.

"These activities are part of a much larger picture, to help young people reach their full potential," Secretary Shalala said. "The best programs don't just focus on pregnancy issues, but instead put choices about sex into the context of the teen's overall health, education and family life."

In selecting grantees, HHS looked for programs that use a comprehensive approach, said Dr. Felicia H. Stewart, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs. Service programs provide an array of health, education and social services.

Some innovative features of the projects include improving communications with parents and involving parents in discussions about life choices and sexual values; having older teens serve as mentors and models; teaching assertiveness skills and modeling responses to pressures; and conveying age-appropriate abstinence messages.

"These are pregnancy prevention programs that put the abstinence message into a larger context, encouraging the development of personal decision-making skills, self-sufficiency and values communication with adults," Dr. Stewart said.

In addition, programs to help teens who are already parents will stress outreach to the fathers of babies born to teen mothers. "These programs are taking the important step of figuring out how to work with fathers, encouraging and teaching them to play a role in the lives of their children," said Dr. Stewart.

Grant winners are broadly distributed geographically in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas.

Each demonstration project must have a strong evaluation component. "These programs will not only help the teens and families they serve directly, but may also provide other communities with valuable ideas and information about effective approaches on which they can base future strategies," Dr. Stewart said. "Every community in the country has the potential to benefit from the innovations tested by these grantees."

The Adolescent Family Life Program made its first grants in 1982. This year the department received over 330 applications.