Partners in Prevention Community Partnerships

The Alliance partners with nonprofit organizations, family planning agencies, community coalitions, and school districts. The Partners in Prevention project assists these partners in selecting, implementing, and evaluating science-based approaches to teen pregnancy prevention, and increasing collaborations with other stakeholders to find community solutions to the challenge of teen pregnancy.

Since the inception of Partners in Prevention in 2002, we have reached hundreds of youth-serving professionals across the state with our technical assistance and training, and thousands of young people in Massachusetts have participated in science-based programs as a result. Partners receive individualized support using the framework of Getting to Outcomes, a program planning process involving needs assessment, program selection, logic model development, program evaluation, and continuous quality improvement. We also provide:

1. Presentations tailored to community partner needs;
2. Workshops;
3. Curriculum trainings in the science-based programs ¡Cuidate!, Making Proud Choices! and Safer Choices; and
4. National-, state-, and community-specific resource materials on teen pregnancy, STIs, evidence-based programs, and teen sexual activity.

In 2008, the Alliance partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to reach school districts in targeted communities with high teen birth and STI rates. Through a competitive application process, DESE selected six partner school districts to receive technical assistance from the Alliance. With the help of the Alliance, all six chose science-based or promising curricula that would fit with their communities and the needs of their students.

Recent highlights of the Partners in Prevention project include:

• Working Together for Latino Youth: Mobilizing Communities to Address Teen Pregnancy conference in partnership with JSI Research & Training Institute featuring keynote speaker Hector Sanchez-Flores, April 2009
• Effective Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Sexual Health Interventions Through School and Community Partnerships conference in partnership with Boston Public Health Commission, DESE, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and AMCHP/NACCHO EBA Project, September 2009
• First ¡Cuidate! training of facilitators in Massachusetts in partnership with Healthy Teen Network, October 2009
• Making Proud Choices! training of facilitators, October 2009
• A New Era for Adolescent Sexual Health and Support for Young Families annual Teen Pregnancy Institute featuring keynote speaker James Wagoner, October 2009

Current Partners, Fall 2009:

Chelsea

Phoenix Charter Academy

Holyoke

Holyoke Public Schools

The YEAH! (Youth Empowerment Adolescent Health) Network

Framingham

Framingham Public Schools

Lawrence

Health Quarters

Family Service, Inc

YWCA of Greater Lawrence

Leominster

Leominster Public Schools

Lowell

Lowell Public Schools

Southbridge

Health Awareness Services/Pregnant and Parenting Teen Program, YOU, Inc.

Springfield

Springfield Public Schools

The YEAH! (Youth Empowerment Adolescent Health) Network

National Partners

The Partners in Prevention project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Adolescent Reproductive Health under the Promoting Science-Based Approaches program. To learn more about our national and state partners in this work, please visit the CDC website.

Advocates for Youth

National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Healthy Teen Network