1. Grant Programs
  2. Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program
  3. Teen Pregnancy Prevention Successful Strategies
  4. Trinity Church

Trinity Church

Published 2016

Plan Be ___

Highlights

  • In 2015, Trinity Church was awarded a $7.2 million, five-year grant from the HHS Office of Adolescent Heath (OAH) Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program for the Plan Be___ project—a partnership between Trinity Church, Fit Kids, Inc., Gang Alternatives, and Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation.
  • Plan Be___ will reach 27,000 youth ages 11-19 in 20 zip codes throughout Miami-Dade County, FL by 2020.
  • Plan Be___ is implementing three evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs: Love Notes, Making Proud Choices!, and Reducing the Risk.
  • Youth are being served in a variety of locations, including a community-based organization serving pregnant and parenting youth, foster care sites, juvenile detention facilities, high schools, and middle schools.

Overview

In July 2015, the HHS Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) awarded 84 Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program grants, which are expected to reach 1.2 million youth over the course of the five-year project. Some of the grantee organizations, including Trinity Church, had been previously funded by OAH and are now building on earlier successes by expanding efforts to reach more youth in more settings with evidence-based programs. With the 2015 grant from OAH, Trinity Church established a partnership with Fit Kids, Inc., Gang Alternatives, and Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation to form the Plan Be___ project.

Trinity Church’s Plan Be___ project began in 2010 with funding from OAH. During the initial project they implemented evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programming in nine zip codes in Miami-Dade County, reaching 5,337 youth over five years. Trinity Church expanded their work with additional funding in 2015 and will reach almost six times the number of youth in Miami-Dade County, FL by 2020.

About Plan Be___

Plan Be___ is a successful teen pregnancy prevention project reaching youth through partnerships with local schools and community partners. The project is designed to help youth in underserved communities (communities with high levels of poverty, unemployment, crime, and low graduation rates) and those disparately impacted by teen pregnancy like youth in foster care and juvenile justice settings. Using evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention curricula, Plan Be___ educates youth about the many risks associated with engaging in sexual activity; connects youth with healthcare services; and mobilizes the community to support teen pregnancy prevention efforts.

Plan Be___ is about empowering youth to be informed, safe, protected, bold, and different. The blank line in the project name is a call to action for teens to redirect their focus from risky sexual activity to positive activities that will enrich their lives and ultimately help to shape their futures. The project’s primary focus is helping teens plan for their futures by understanding what constitutes a healthy relationship.

By 2020, Plan Be___ expects to see positive results in the community they serve including reduced rates and disparities in the following outcomes:

  • Teen pregnancies
  • Teen births
  • Sexually transmitted infections

Why It Matters

The OAH TPP program and the Plan Be___ project are important investments in reducing the rates of teen pregnancy in this country. The Plan Be___ project:

  • Reaches the hard to reach. Plan Be___ provides youth in underserved areas with guidance on how to make healthy choices to reach their highest potential. The project will serve youth in foster care and juvenile detention, two populations overburdened by teen pregnancy.
  • Addresses the most critical need in Miami-Dade County. The number of girls ages 15-19 in the 20 zip codes served by Plan Be___ only account for 24 percent of girls in the county, yet they account for more than half of the teen births in the county.
  • Plans to expand their reach more than five-fold. From 2010 to 2015, Trinity Church was able to reach just over 5,000 youth. With new OAH funding in mid-2015, they anticipate reaching 27,000 youth in the next five years.

Plan Be___ by the Numbers

  • National Teen Birth Rate (2015): 22 per 1,000 females ages 15-19
  • Florida Teen Birth Rate (2015): 20.3 per 1,000 females ages 15-19
  • Miami-Dade County Teen Birth Rate (2015): 15.3 per 1,000 females ages 15-19
  • Combined Target Zip Codes Teen Birth Rate (2015, provisional): 34.6 per 1,000 females ages 15-19

For more information or to schedule a site visit, contact:

Crystal Agnew
Project Director
786-374-5370
rcagnew@gmail.com
http://www.planbemiami.org

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About the Office of Adolescent Health TPP Program

The OAH Teen Pregnancy Prevention program is a national, evidence-based program that funds diverse organizations working to prevent teen pregnancy across the United States. OAH invests in the implementation of programs identified as evidence-based by the HHS Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review and provides funding to develop and evaluate new and innovative approaches to prevent teen pregnancy.