LAKE CUMBERLAND DISTRICT HEALTH DEPARTMENT RECEIVES GRANT FROM ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES FOR SEXUAL RISK AVOIDANCE EDUCATION PROGRAM
Somerset, KY. (October 13, 2016) – Lake Cumberland District Health Department (LCDHD) is pleased to announce it has received a $433,996 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) for their 10-county service area. ACF awards grants through a competitive application and review process. The awarded funding will support the delivery of sexual risk avoidance education (SRAE) to adolescents in seventh grade over the next three years.
Although Kentucky and the nation’s teen birth rates are declining, the targeted area, which is made up of Adair, Casey, Clinton, Cumberland, Green, McCreary, Pulaski, Russell, Taylor, and Wayne counties, continues to struggle with high teen birth rates. Teen birth rates in the ten target counties are disturbing high, exceeding both the state and national rates. Teen births rates among 15-19 year olds top the charts at 83.5 per 1,000 in one targeted county, compared to Kentucky 38.7 and U.S. 26.7.
The goal of the SRAE program is to educate youth on how to voluntarily refrain from non-marital sexual activity and prevent other youth risk behaviors. Awardees must use medically accurate information and teach the benefits associated with self-regulation, success sequencing for poverty prevention, healthy relationships, goal setting, resisting sexual coercion, dating violence, and other youth risk behaviors such as underage drinking or illicit drug use without normalizing teen sexual activity.
“We want to see our youth achieve their full life potential,” says LCDHD’s Executive Director Shawn Crabtree, “with these grant funds, we will seek to provide the education and tools needed to prevent unplanned teen pregnancy and the spread of Sexually Transmitted Infections.”