Abstinence-Centered Education Program

The goal of the Abstinence-Centered Education program (AEP) is to encourage the implementation of evidence-based interventions, as defined by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), that will delay initiation of sexual activity as part of a continuum of services to decrease the teen pregnancy rate and rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in youth ages fifteen (15) through nineteen (19).  Project interventions focus on grades 5th – 12th with attention to risk and protective factors that affect early initiation of sexual activity.

Implementation Strategies

• Direct service contracts target high risk youth through two possible interventions:

• In-School Intervention –implemented in elementary, middle, and high school sites serving grades 5th – 12th that have 56-100% of students living in poverty, as defined by the Texas Education Administration (TEA), and

• After-School Intervention - implemented outside of regular school hours in school or other community sites with a focus on high risk youth such as youth in the child welfare system or foster care.

• Statewide resources available free of charge for youth and parents include:

• Web-based resources for parents: www.power2talk.org and in Spanish at www.poderdehablar.org,
• Sex Can Wait, Talking Can't booklet and DVD for parents in Spanish and English,
• Web-based resources for youth at www.power2wait.com, and
• Texas Youth Leadership Summit.

• Statewide resources available free of charge for school districts and organizations include:
  
• Power2wait Toolkits for grades 4th - 8th with interactive video games to supplement abstinence or sexual education curricula,
• Workshops and webinars to increase awareness of medically accurate, evidence-based, abstinence, youth development curricula, and AEP resources provided by most Education Service Centers (ESC), and
• Service learning training workshops open to school districts.