Peer Power - Establishing a peer lead outreach group

Rationale: College retention and completion are arguably among the most serious concerns facing colleges. Sixty nine percent of teen pregnancies occur among teens 18-19 years old with only 2% of teen mothers finishing college. In addition, more than half of the pregnancies occur among young women ages 20-24 were unplanned.

As a result of the high rates of teen pregnancy among young people ages 18-19, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential partnered with a local two year college to develop and implement a Peer Education program using the peer-to-peer model.  PEER UP is an innovative multi-faceted health strategy that uses social media, technology, peer educators, and college faculty to reduce unintended pregnancy as a barrier to college completion.  With the help of technology, students receive information on contraceptives, are linked to campus and local clinic resources, and participate in educational online lessons. This program aims to address the high rates of unintended pregnancy on college campuses to increase retention with the help of technology.

PEER UP has reached over 1000 students in the course of 3 years. Key collaborations and partnerships have been crucial to the success of the program. PEER UP established several partnerships that made the spread of sexual and reproductive health education easily attainable on a college campus.  With the help of enthusiastic college age peer educators, PEER UP was able to impact the college campus with annual outreach campus events