Alliance Awarded $5.5 Million over 5 Years to Reduce Teen Births by 10% In Holyoke and Springfield

The Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy (Alliance) is one of only 9 organizations across the country awarded a $1.1 million grant to support its YOUTH FIRST initiative in Springfield and Holyoke. The grant is an initiative funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to test the effectiveness of community-wide approaches to reducing teen pregnancy. The goal of Youth First is to reduce teen births by 10% over 5 years in Holyoke and Springfield. At 83 births per 1000 teen girls aged 15–19, the region’s teen birth rate is more than 4 times the statewide rate and twice the national rate.

“This grant is validation of the importance and effectiveness of the efforts that the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy — along with our community partners — have developed to reverse the trend of high teen birth rates in these communities,” said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy.

In collaboration with the Hampden County-based YEAH (Youth Empowerment Adolescent Health) Network and many community partners, the Alliance will spearhead a community-wide effort to:

• Increase youth access to quality sexual health information and evidence-based programs
• Increase youth access to sexual health clinical services
• Increase community awareness of teen pregnancy issues
• Promote sustainability of all approaches

In a national rollout of the teen pregnancy prevention effort, the US Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $155 million to state agencies, non-profits, health clinics, schools, and faith-based organizations.  In addition to the Alliance, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and several Boston-based youth-serving organizations won grants. Massachusetts’ total of $5.6 million was the 9th highest total grant amount.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with our partners across Holyoke and Springfield in this innovative, extensive effort to engage youth and families in effective programs across schools, community organizations, and healthcare settings and link to them to clinical services essential for teen pregnancy prevention,” says Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Alliance. “Teen pregnancy is a major factor causing youth to drop out of school. It negatively impacts the prosperity of individuals, families, and communities. With strong leadership on teen pregnancy in both cities, Holyoke and Springfield are ready to take full advantage of this unique opportunity.”

Information on the 2010 federal grantees is now available on the Office of Adolescent Health website. Other federal teen pregnancy prevention grantees in Massachusetts include:

John Snow, Inc & JSI Research & Training Institute
Boston, MA

Funded under the CDC’s community-wide initiatives project to provide training and technical assistance to the Alliance and 8 other community- and state-based organizations across the U.S.

Congregación León de Judá
Boston, MA
Program model: Making A Difference!
 $599,889

Congregación León de Judá will implement the Vale Esperar Making a Difference! project in 30 community-based sites in Boston, and Lawrence, MA; Providence, RI; and Harford, CT. The project will target 3,100 Latino adolescents, ages 11–13, with an abstinence-approach to HIV, STI, and teen pregnancy prevention. The goals of the project are to reduce both sexual activity and teen pregnancy rates among participants.

La Alianza Hispana, Inc
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Program model: ¡Cuídate!
 $463,934

La Alianza Hispana’s ¡Cuídate! Latino Youth Collaborative program will implement the ¡Cuídate! evidence-based program. A partnership will be developed with the city of Boston, the Boston Public School District, and community-based youth providers to build a strong collaborative of partnering sites to support La Alianza Hispana. The project’s overall goal is to prevent Latino youth ages 13-19 in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts from engaging in sexual behaviors that lead to early or unwanted pregnancy and HIV/STI infection.

Black Ministerial Alliance of Boston
Roxbury, MA
Program model or strategy: Healthy Futures adaptation
 $1,000,000

The Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston (BMA) is targeting 6,000 middle school students from low income families in three cities (Lowell, Lynn, and Lawrence) around the Boston area. BMA has adapted a previous program to be more responsive to the needs of the community and will implement it with this grant. The project being implemented will target younger youth than in the past to increase the positive effect. The program incorporates a holistic, positive, medically accurate, non-judgmental, and educational approach to teen pregnancy prevention.

Boston Medical Center
Boston, MA
Program model or strategy: Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART) adaptation
 $572,516

Boston Medical Center (BMC) is serving at risk Haitian-American youth in 9th and 10th grades at four schools. BMC is basing their program on the Becoming A Responsible Teen (BART) intervention and will adapt it for cultural relevance for the Haitian community. They are also including components addressing mental health and trauma needs. Approximately 175 youth will be reached annually for a total of 600 youth throughout the project period.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Boston, MA
Teen pregnancy prevention through the PREP (Personal Responsibility Education Program).  
 $1,062,646

States must use these funds for programs that replicate evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention strategies and incorporate other adult responsibility subjects, such as maintaining healthy relationships, improving communication with parents, and financial literacy. The programs supported by states must incorporate lessons about both abstinence and contraception.

Educational Development Center
Newton, MA
Teen pregnancy prevention through the PREP (Personal Responsibility Education Program).  
 $773,359

More than a Dream/Más que un sueño is a collaboration led by Education Development Center (EDC) in partnership with the University of Michigan School of Nursing and LULAC’s National Educational Service Centers, the educational arm of the nation’s oldest and largest Hispanic advocacy organization. The project will test two research-based interventions for Latino adolescents, ages 12-14—¡Cuídate! and Salud y exito/Health & Success parent education in Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, El Paso and Kansas City.