SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
Thursday, July 15, 3004
Federal grants to two organizations, Pima Youth Partnership and the Arizona-Mexico Border Health Foundation, aim to prevent teen pregnancies by encouraging teens to delay sexual activity.
A total of $1.36 million has been awarded to the programs in southern Arizona.
The grants were announced yesterday by U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.
Some money will go to school-based education, some to involve parents in the effort to delay teen sex and some to enhance programs targeting teen sexual activity in Hispanic populations in Santa Cruz and Yuma counties.
Luan Wagner, executive director of Pima Youth Partnership, said the $729,365 the agency will receive this year from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration will enable PYP to continue work it began under state funding to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy and sexual activity among youths 12 to 18.
Three thousand in that age group will learn in school about delaying sex, 240 families will take part in "Families for Families" and 225 kids will take part in an after-school leadership program to help them teach other teens how to delay sex, using verbal skills and information provided by the program.
The "Walk the Walk" after-school clubs will use art, media and newsletters to get the message to other teens about how to refuse sexual activity until they are 18.
The middle-school-based program is called "Choosing the Best," Wagner said. It covers the influence of the media on early sexual activity among teens and helps teens learn how to avoid situations that could lead to sexual activity. "Choosing the Best Life" targets high school youth and "Choosing the Best Way" is aimed at sixth-graders.
The program for families will create host and buddy families to spread the word about delayed sex for teens. Host families will get a $200 monthly stipend for hosting monthly meetings during the grant year.
Wagner said these programs also serve to "increase community awareness about the value of abstinence-only education and help support parents by educating them about the importance of communicating with their children on these issues."
The Arizona-Mexico Border Health Foundation, which has a Tucson office, as well as offices in Douglas and Nogales, got $631,792.
Charles Anderson, research director of the foundation, said the funding will support a curriculum called "Worth the Wait," which targets 5,280 youths.
The effort, which takes a holistic approach to improving the health of Hispanics in Santa Cruz and Yuma counties, includes other programs that provide HIV-AIDS education and information on sexually transmitted diseases and substance abuse, said Anderson, an anthropologist.
"It's a multidisciplinary perspective," he said.
"Worth the Wait's" message is spread through promoteras, Spanish-speaking members of the community, who are hired to take the word to their neighbors and friends.
"There's a tendency of outsiders not to be trusted," Anderson said. "So an effort is made to get the message out in a culturally appropriate manner."
The program was designed to last three years, he said. "We've had abstinence programs before, primarily in Yuma County. This will enhance our previous work," he said.
Anderson cited figures that he said indicate the need for abstinence programs.
In 2003, Arizona had the third-highest adolescent pregnancy rate in the United States. In 2002, the birth rate among 15- to 19-year-olds was about 6 percent, according to the state health department.
According to data from the Children's Action Alliance, Santa Cruz County had the second-highest teen pregnancy rate in Arizona in the decade that ended in 2000. Pima County was in a three-way tie for third with Cochise and Maricopa counties. Yuma was fourth.
In 2003 in Santa Cruz County, 90 percent of births to unwed mothers were to Hispanics, Anderson said. Sixteen percent of births to Hispanic mothers in Santa Cruz County were to teens 15 to 19. Thirty-two percent of women in Santa Cruz County giving birth in 2003 had less than a high school education, and 47 percent of unwed mothers there in 2003 had less than a high school education.
In Yuma County, 39 percent of mothers were unwed and 36 percent had less than a high school education.
Original link: <http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=071504a4_abstinence_money>
Pima YOUTH Partnership (PYP) was incorporated in 1990 by a group of concerned citizens that wanted to connect rural communities with the same programs, services, and activities available to youth and families living in the metropolitan Tucson area.
As a prevention agency, PYP works with youth and families in rural and Native American communities to reach its mission, "In partnership with communities, develop resources to promote the positive growth of their children." Since 1990, PYP has grown from its original three (3) communities of Ajo, rural Marana, and Sahuarita, to include Catalina, Flowing Wells, New Pascua Yaqui Reservation, and the three (3) western districts of the Tohono O'odham Nation.