February 15, 2007

Media Stories

Church Offers Abstinence Lessons to Public School Students
Associated Press, February 7, 2007

What's Best for My Daughter?
The Dallas (TX) Morning News, February 7, 2007

Abstinence Encouraged at Teen Pregnancy Forum (free registration required)
The Baytown (TX) Sun, February 6, 2007

Walkathon at C.B. Smith Park Promotes Abstinence
Ft. Lauderdale (FL) Sun-Sentinel, February 4, 2007

Youths to Rappers: Clean It Up
The Chicago (IL) Sun-Times, February 1, 2007

Abstinence a Powerful Choice, Says Miss Virginia
Naples (FL) Sun Times, January 31, 2007

CWA Disagrees; Sex Is a Big Deal
The Christian Post, January 31, 2007

Preventing Teen Pregnancies: Experts Say It Takes More Than Sex Ed
The Victorville (CA) Daily Press, January 30, 2007

A Moment of Fun Can Ruin a Lifetime
St. Petersburg (FL) Times, January 30, 2007

'Be-Amazed-Teen Maze' (free registration required)
The Devil’s Lake (ND) Daily Journal, January 30, 2007

Grad Student Calls for 'Semester of Abstinence'
The Howard University Hilltop, January 29, 2007

Funding Opportunities

NEW! The National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth maintains a listing of organizations identified as potential funding sources for abstinence education programs. The listing includes grant descriptions and contact information.

HIV/AIDS Prevention Grants Program 2007 – U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM)
USCM is offering grants of $60,000 each to three groups that show promise of preventing HIV/AIDS among Native American youth. Eligible applicants include city or county agencies, community-based organizations, consortia, nonprofit groups, and tribal organizations.
Deadline for proposals: February 26, 2007

Faiths Partnership Grant Program – Silicon Valley Community Foundation
The foundation offers small ($500 to $5,000) grants to increase the capacity of faith-based organizations and congregations that serve Northern California communities.
Deadline for applications: March 2, 2007

Abstinence-Until-Marriage Grants – Children and Youth Coordinating Council (Georgia)
Funding is available for State and local governments, school systems, nonprofit agencies, and faith-based organizations that provide abstinence education programs in Georgia.
Deadline for proposals: March 5, 2007

Improving the Well-Being of Children – Native American Healthy Marriage Initiative – Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Grant No. HHS-2007-ACF-ANA-NI-0021)
Grantees will improve child well-being by promoting healthy marriage within Native American communities. Among other things, programs will equip youth and young adults with skills and knowledge to develop healthy relationships, including skills that can help them eventually form and sustain a healthy marriage. Eligible applicants include community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, tribes, and village governments.
Deadline for applications: March 26, 2007

Recent Research

Adolescent Sexual Debut and Later Delinquency (February 2007)
The authors of this article (published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Volume 36:141–152) examined data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, known as Add Health, to determine connections between sexual debut (experiencing sexual intercourse for the first time) and delinquency among adolescents. Delinquency in this study includes self reports of painting graffiti, damaging property, stealing, and selling drugs. Overall, the authors found that experiencing sexual debut is associated with delinquency one year later, and that those adolescents who debut earlier than their peers are at higher risk.

Youth Assets and Sexual Abstinence in Native American Youth (November 2006)
The authors of this article (published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, Volume 17[4]:775–788) report that, compared with youth of other races and ethnicities, Native American youth are more likely to have participated in sexual intercourse and thus are at greater risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies. Through their study of protective factors among Native American families, the authors found that youth with nonparental adult role models were nearly four times more likely to have never had sex than youth without such role models.

Upcoming Events

Abstinence Education Evaluation Conference
"Strengthening Programs Through Scientific Evaluation"
March 19–20, 2007
Baltimore, MD – Renaissance Harborplace Hotel
Deadline for conference registration is March 1, 2007
Deadline for hotel registration is February 16, 2007

Abstinence Education Grantees Regional Training
CBAE Grantees and State Title V Coordinators in Regions 1 through 4
April 24-25, 2007
Boston, MA – The Omni Parker House
Registration will open in February 2007
Contact: Frank Bazela at abstinence@pal-tech.com
Note: Each grantee is invited to send one person; participation is limited to the first 50 people who register.

Abstinence Education Grantees Regional Training
CBAE Grantees and State Title V Coordinators in Regions 8 through 10
May 24-25, 2007
San Francisco, CA – The Hilton Fisherman’s Wharf
Registration will open in March 2007
Contact: Frank Bazela at abstinence@pal-tech.com
Note: Each grantee is invited to send one person; participation is limited to the first 50 people who register.

Abstinence Education Grantees Regional Training
CBAE Grantees and State Title V Coordinators in Regions 5 through 7
June 28-29, 2007
Chicago, IL – Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro
Registration will open in April 2007
Contact: Frank Bazela at abstinence@pal-tech.com
Note: Each grantee is invited to send one person; participation is limited to the first 50 people who register.

Other News/Misc.

Op-Ed Tips for Abstinence Education Grantees (January 2007)
This one-page resource provides nine specific tips for writing effective editorials.

New Moon, a magazine for girls, is calling on girls around the country to contact Congress about the issues that matter most to them. Through March 1, the magazine will collect letters, which its editorial board will hand-deliver to every member of Congress in the spring.

Focus on Staff

DIANE E. MENTZER is the project manager on the Community-Based Abstinence Education Training, Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Contract at Pal-Tech, Inc. Diane joined the contract, which helps abstinence education grantees maximize their ability to deliver the abstinence-until-marriage message to the Nation’s youth, when it was funded in November 2005. Diane received her bachelor’s degree in management and consumer studies from the University of Maryland and her master’s degree in management and management information systems from University of Maryland University College.

Quote for the Day

"The scientific advance that the HPV vaccine represents should not distract us from the primary truth that abstinence until marriage and fidelity within marriage constitute the single best formula for sexual health…[A]s with other public health issues such as smoking, we should not limit ourselves to risk-reduction strategies when risk elimination is the ultimate goal."

(Peter Sprigg, The Washington Post, July 15, 2006)