Youth Services of Tulsa

Published 2016

Tulsa Area Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaborative

Highlights

  • In 2015, Youth Services of Tulsa was awarded a $7.5 million, five-year grant from the HHS Office of Adolescent Heath (OAH) Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program for the Tulsa Area Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaborative (Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative).
  • By 2020, the Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative will reach at least 30,000 youth ages 11-19 in Tulsa County, OK, which has the 2nd highest teen birth rates in the state.
  • Youth are served in a variety of settings including alternative schools, community-based organizations, health clinics, high schools, middle schools, and runaway and homeless shelters.
  • The TPP Collaborative uses five evidence-based TPP models—CAS-Carrera, Making a Difference, Making Proud Choices, Seventeen Days, and SHARP.

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 Youth Services of Tulsa, 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. The Youth Services of Tulsa PregNOT program began in 2010 with funding from OAH. During the initial project they implemented one evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program (SHARP) in three settings in Tulsa, OK reaching 7,774 youth over five years. In 2015, they expanded their work with additional funding in partnership with Tulsa Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and the Community Service Council Carrera Program to create the Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative. By 2020, the collaborative will reach more than three times the number of youth using five evidence-based interventions in seven settings throughout Tulsa, OK.

About Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative

The Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative delivers medically accurate, evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programming to youth throughout Tulsa County; provides linkages and referrals to youth-friendly healthcare services; and engages the community to work together to prevent teen pregnancy. While working throughout Tulsa in schools and community-based organizations, the Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative also concentrates on reaching the most vulnerable youth in three primary settings: an emergency shelter/drop-in center for homeless youth, the housing authority, and the juvenile detention center.

The project goals are to:

  • Reduce the teen birth rate in Tulsa, OK by 30 percent for 11- to 19-year-olds
  • Increase the number of youth accessing youth-friendly reproductive healthcare services by 50 percent
  • Increase the capacity of Tulsa County to successfully address the issue of teen pregnancy by building a sustainable and collaborative network of organizations

Why it Matters

The OAH TPP program and the Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative are important investments in reducing the rates of teen pregnancy in this country. The Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative:

  • Addresses one of the highest state teen birth rates in the nation. Oklahoma is ranked 2nd highest in the nation for teen birth rates, resulting in 4,792 births to females ages 15-19 in 2014. Tulsa County is the 2nd highest for teen birth rates in the state.
  • Works to improve broad community outcomes. Reducing teen pregnancy can impact other social issues like education, child well-being, poverty, taxpayer costs, and foster care.

Tulsa Area TPP Collaborative by the Numbers

  • National Teen Birth Rate (2014): 24.2 per 1,000 females ages 15-19
  • Oklahoma Teen Birth Rate (2014): 38.5 per 1,000 females ages 15-19
  • Tulsa County Teen Birth Rate (2014): 36.1 per 1,000 females ages 15-19

Contact

Gabe Lowe
Director of Youth Enrichment
Youth Services of Tulsa
(918) 382.4482
glowe@yst.org
http://www.yst.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.