Community youth organizations still have time to submit their applications to the Alabama Department of Public Health for federal funding. ADPH is soliciting requests for proposals (RFPs) from education programs providing evidence-based information on the risks associated with unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to Alabama youth aged 10 to 19. These applications are due by August 4 at 3 p.m. Central Time.
All applicants had to submit a letter of intent last Friday to apply for an RFP. ADPH is soliciting proposals from programs in the following 17 counties: Bullock, Choctaw, Clay, Cleburne, Crenshaw, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Mobile, Montgomery, Pickens, Washington and Wilcox.
ADPH receives funding from two federally funded grants. The first grant is the Alabama Sexual Risk Avoidance Education RFP, which seeks evidence-based curriculum that targets sixth to eighth grade students and other middle school aged youth. Valerie Lockett is the director of ADPH’s Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Branch. Lockett said this grant targets programs that give students in middle schools the tools to be proactive citizens.
“We use an abstinence-based approach to give young people education on how to set boundaries [and] establish healthy relationships, so that they can reach their desired goals and dreams to be successful, young people without having to be worried about the risks and dangers associated with having unprotected sex [like] becoming a teen parent or acquiring STIs, including HIV,” she said.
The second grant is the Alabama Personal Responsibility Education Program RFP, which seeks evidence-based curriculum that targets high school aged youth. These programs also teach the risks associated with unplanned pregnancies and STIs, including HIV.
“We target high-risk, high school aged youth, and it’s the same thing,” Lockett said. “We come from an abstinence plus contraception approach.”
Lockett said community youth organizations will receive funding priority if they educate Alabama’s at-risk youth populations. These groups include youth in foster care, including youth in group homes and summer camps; youth in juvenile detention programs; Native American youth; homeless or runaway youth; LGBTQ+ youth; and young parents. Lockett said these groups are considered at-risk due to their higher prevalence of unplanned pregnancies and STIs.
“We target high-risk young people,” Lockett said. “We also target those counties that have young people with a pregnancy rate either as high or higher than the state [pregnancy] rate.”
According to Power to Decide, a national nonprofit organization, Alabama witnessed 3,788 teen births in 2020. This is lower than ADPH’s 4,002 teen pregnancies reported in 2019. Though the number of teen pregnancies in Alabama fell 66% between 1991 and 2020, Lockett said the state pregnancy rate is still 17.3%.
ADPH also reported several cases of STIs among Alabama youth. In its Sexually Transmitted Diseases Annual Report for 2020, ADPH researchers tracked the following cases of STIs in the state during 2020:
- Chlamydia: 206 cases for teens aged 10 to 14 years, 7,933 cases for teens added 15 to 19
- Gonorrhea: 89 cases for teens aged 10 to 14 years, 3,006 cases for teens aged 15 to 19
- Primary and secondary syphilis: 29 cases for teens aged 15 to 19 years
- Early, non-primary and non-secondary syphilis: 27 cases for teens aged 15 to 19 years
- Late syphilis: 26 cases for teens aged 15 to 19 years
Lockett said she hopes the federally funded grants will help lessen the impact teen pregnancy and STIs have had on Alabama youth.
“The goal is for those young people to achieve [their] goals that they set forth [and] to reach success in their lifetime [such as] completing the education some of them might have like the desire to attend college and pursue their personal careers,” she said. “[To] reach those milestones that are goals for all young people. We know and understand that teen pregnancy [and STIs do] exist. Our goal is to hopefully reduce those numbers and give more teenagers time to focus on their big goals and dreams.”
Community youth organizations that have filed their letters of intent can visit ADPH’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention website to download and fill out an RFP. RFPs may be submitted electronically, mailed or hand-delivered. However, mailed and hand-delivered RFPs should include one original signed proposal and four copies. Organizations’ programs will be individually assessed to determine amount of funding. All applicants must also submit a budget to request a certain amount of funding.
