The Tucson Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition has been awarded 4.3 Million to “build sex education programming” in the Sunnyside Unified School District (SUSD), according to a press release. Four local nonprofits including Planned Parenthood Arizona will “mobilized as the Tucson Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition (TTPPC).”
The Coalition will “implement effective, evidence-based, medically accurate, responsible relationships and sexuality education to middle and high school students in the Sunnyside district,” according to the release.
“We are thrilled to be able to work with our partners at the TTPPC to finally be able to bring much needed sex education resources to the Sunnyside community,” said Daniel Hernandez, President of the Sunnyside School District Governing Board. “We hope that this success will lead to other districts following our lead to ensure that the students of Arizona have the information they need to make informed choices.”
This July, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’, Office of Adolescent Health awarded the coalition $4.3 million, over five years, to train Sunnyside staff, primarily health and science teachers, to teach abstinence-based sexuality education. By the spring of 2016, parents in the Sunnyside district will have the option of allowing their children to receive the information.
According to the release, “The middle school Making a Difference and high school Reducing the Risk curricula are both evidence-based and age-appropriate curricula that encourage abstinence as a first choice while also providing information about methods of protection.”
Pregnant or parenting teens will be able to participate in a teen-parent focused program Be Proud, Be Responsible, Be Protective.
Supporters say that by 2020, all programs will be self-sustaining within the district. However, rarely do a federally funded programs remain federally funded, leaving the schools to figure out how to pay for them.
The funding also supports an independent outcomes evaluation of the program by Tucson based LeCroy & Milligan Associates, Inc.