Assessing and Addressing Adolescent Pregnancy Where “They” Live and Learn

Southern states continue to face the great paradox of having extremely conservative political and religious views on sex, sexuality, and sex education, while their teen birth rates reach epidemic proportions.   For example, prior to being funded by the 2010 President’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, Georgia ranked 8^th in teen birth rates among females aged 15 -19.  Despite primary data collected from a community needs assessment indicating that adolescents and caregivers alike perceived teen pregnancy as a very serious problem in their community, one with broader social and economic issues impacting teens, key youth serving sectors: 1) faith-based community, 2) school system, and 3) juvenile justice system in Richmond County, Georgia continued to impose barriers to implementing comprehensive sex education.  This presentation expounds on how 17 progressive partners worked within their conservative community.  Replicable approaches to implementing sex education in conservative communities include:  1) utilization of assessment data to address teen pregnancy in their community, 2) capacity building and formation of community partnerships of a community council with a mission to develop alliances with the school and faith based community for community mobilization, and 3) increased provision of youth development and teen pregnancy prevention evidenced-based programs and youth access to contraceptive and reproductive health services.  Collectively these approaches have resulted in eight evidence-based curricula implemented among approximately 1900 teens. Quantitative results to date indicate a 10.2 (80.5 to 70.3) decrease in teen pregnancy rate in this conservative community.