Teen Pregnancy Prevention 2010–2015

Integrating Services, Programs, and Strategies Through Communitywide Initiatives: State- and Community-Based Organizations

Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina

The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina (APPCNC) has received $1,163,553 to implement “Gaston Youth Connected: Integrating Education and Clinic Services for Gaston County Teens” (GYC). The 5-year GYC project represents an intensive collaboration between APPCNC, local partners, and partners who can ensure long-term project sustainability. APPCNC will work with at least 15 clinic and program implementation sites to increase agencies’ capacity to provide evidence-based interventions and connect youth to clinic services. Evidence-based and evidence-informed program models will be implemented in at least 10 community sites. Potential programs include Making Proud Choices, Teen Outreach Program (TOP), Parents Matter!, and ¡Cuidate!. APPCNC will also work with the community to develop three teams to provide project input and planning: a Core Partner Team to plan activities, a Community Advisory Panel, and a Youth Advisory Panel. A designated At-Risk Populations Coordinator will focus on reaching Latino/Hispanic teens, African American teens, and pregnant and parenting teens. Partners will work together to create policies and procedures to connect more youth to adequate clinical services. The three primary partner groups and panels will work to inform community stakeholders about the importance of effective prevention efforts, and will work to ensure long-term program and project sustainability.

Alabama Department of Public Health

The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has received $846,051 for teen pregnancy prevention. ADPH is the Title X Family Planning agency for the state. ADPH will focus its teen pregnancy prevention activities on Mobile County, Alabama. Mobile County has the highest teen pregnancy rate (65.6 per 1,000 population) of Alabama’s three largest metropolitan statistical areas, and more than 29,000 females aged 10–19 years. The Mobile County Health Department (MCHD) has established partnerships with 11 youth-serving organizations and 4 family planning health care providers at 8 sites to recruit teens into the program. The Alabama Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Region IV Title X Training Center will collaborate to train staff and educate stakeholders on the effective development and implementation of evidence-based and evidence-informed teen pregnancy prevention programs. MCDH health educators will implement evidence-based interventions with teens, engage community stakeholders, and conduct training of trainers to promote program sustainability. Program evaluation will be done in conjunction with staff from the University of South Alabama. As a result of these efforts, by 2015 ADPH expects a 10% reduction in birth rates among African-American females aged 15–19 in the target community.

City of Hartford, Department of Health and Human Services

The City of Hartford, Department of Health and Human Services (HHHS) has received $900,000 to coordinate Hartford’s communitywide teen pregnancy prevention initiative. The 5-year project will serve low-income African-American and Hispanic teens aged 13–19 years in Hartford, and will engage a majority of the city's youth-serving organizations, health clinics, the Hartford Department of Health and Human Services, the City of Hartford Youth Services Office (HOYS), the Hartford Action Plan on Infant Health, the Hartford System of Schools, and other public and private sector leaders and cooperating organizations. This initiative builds on current services being offered to teens in Hartford and the unique experience of the Hartford Action Plan on Infant Health's “Breaking the Cycle” — one of the country's first citywide collaboratives to reduce teen pregnancy. HHHS will work closely with the city's HOYS and the Hartford Action Plan to implement evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs, connect youth to clinic services, educate stakeholders, and promote program sustainability. More than 10 youth-serving organizations, 6 community health clinics, the city's public school system, and private sector supporters will collaborate with HHHS, HOYS, and the Hartford Action plan to meet defined objectives for each project components.

Family Planning Council

The Family Planning Council (FPC) has received $884,840 to implement an initiative to reduce teen birth rates 10% by 2015 in the predominately African American West Philadelphia community. FPC is a private, nonprofit organization responsible for administering public funding for Title X family planning services in southeastern Pennsylvania. The target community has high teen birth rates, poverty, and unemployment rates, and low high school graduation rates. The project goal will be achieved by increasing the number and percentage of youth aged 10–19 years who participate in evidence-based and evidence-informed teen pregnancy prevention programs, and increasing the number and percentage of youth who receive clinical care. FPC will provide training and technical assistance to youth-serving agencies and clinics to select, implement, evaluate, and sustain evidence-based programs; provide training and technical assistance to clinics to increase accessibility and teen-friendliness; build relationships between clinics and youth-serving agencies; expand the network of school-based health resource centers providing evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs; operate the CHOICE Hotline to increase teens’ awareness of clinical services; establish an on-site “Askable Adult Program” to serve as a reproductive health resource for youth at schools and other youth-serving organizations; hold an annual Community Summit; and disseminate information to stakeholders.

Fund for Public Health in New York, Inc.

The Fund for Public Health in New York (FPHNY) has received $1,500,000 to implement the “Bronx Teens Connection,” a multicomponent, communitywide teen pregnancy prevention initiative in two community districts in the South Bronx. FPHNY is a fiduciary agent for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Maternal, Infant, and Reproductive Health. Key partners include the Bronx District Public Health Office, the Department of Education, the Administration for Children’s Services, private clinical service providers, and a number of minority- and youth-serving organizations in the community. Evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention curricula will be implemented in high schools in the target community, as well as for teens in foster care and out-of-school settings. Links to clinical services will be strengthened in school-based and community health centers. This initiative will include an innovative social marketing campaign using new media to educate community youth and stakeholders. FPHNY will provide training and technical assistance to community partners, including training on long-term institutional sustainability.

Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention

The Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP) has received $1,500,000 to work with youth-serving organizations and clinical service providers in Richmond County, Georgia, to implement a communitywide pregnancy prevention intervention designed to reach more than 16,000 African American and Latino youth aged 15–19 years. G-CAPP will increase the number of youth receiving evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs, and will increase the number of sexually active youth referred to appropriate services by conducting interventions informed by needs assessments in partner organizations and the target community. Project activities will include working with 10 youth-serving organizations and 5 reproductive health clinics in Richmond County, Georgia, to reduce teen births by 10% by 2015. G-CAPP and its partners will establish a youth advisory panel, develop and implement a community advocacy plan targeting stakeholders, and will use new and traditional media to increase awareness and linkages between programs and clinics.

Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy

The Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy (MATP) has received $1,177,051 to initiate the “Youth First” initiative to reduce teen birth rates in the communities of Springfield and Holyoke by 10% by 2015, with a focus on serving African American and Latino/Hispanic youth at high risk of teen pregnancy. MATP’s primary partner will be the YEAH (Youth Empowerment and Adolescent Health) Network, a teen pregnancy prevention coalition. This initiative will reach 15,000 youth, and will involve parents, youth-service providers, funders, and other stakeholders. The proposed communitywide approach will include a core partner group of YEAH, community-based organizations, clinical service providers, city health departments, and school districts. Outreach is planned to “nontraditional” audiences including churches, parents of teens, business leaders, employers of youth, and professional organizations. Activities will include  providing technical assistance on program planning, implementation, evaluation and sustainability; supporting local partners who are currently implementing evidence-based programming; and engaging and mobilizing stakeholders statewide and locally to advocate for young adult-targeted health care plans that include prescription contraceptive coverage.

South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

The South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (SC Campaign) has received $1,486,232 to implement innovative, multicomponent, communitywide initiatives to prevent teen pregnancy, with a focus on reaching African American and Latino youth aged 15–19 years. SC Campaign will reduce teen pregnancy among ethnic minority youth in Spartanburg and Horry Counties by increasing access to high quality, evidence-based and evidence-informed youth development and teen pregnancy prevention programs, and increasing linkages between these programs and community-based clinical services. Major activities will include developing a Community Advisory Group with representatives from a Youth Advisory Panel and local clinics, educating leadership on evidence-based programming, and developing content for an Online Learning Center aimed at building capacity among local partner organizations.

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) has received $1,209,387 to expand the San Antonio Sex Education Program (SEP) from middle schools into high schools on the south side of Bexar County. The target youth population is predominantly Latino/Hispanic. SEP provides communitywide, medically accurate, evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs, and creates and enhances linkages between the SEP and community-based clinical services. Major activities will include implementing a culturally appropriate, evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program with high school students and providing training and technical assistance to community-based clinical service providers to build organizational sustainability.