Abstinence Education
Abstinence education has at its exclusive purpose teaching teenagers about saving all sexual activity for marriage. Government funding for abstinence education programs was first signed into legislation by President Bill Clinton. Research has shown that providing abstinence education to teenagers increases their likelihood for a healthy, future marriage, as well as decreasing the chance of living in poverty. Through abstinence education teens learn that abstinence until marriage is the only 100% effective way of preventing sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Abstinence education has three primary streams of government funding. First there are Title V funds available for each state which require a matching amount of money from the state. Any organization within each state accepting Title V is eligible to receive funding as long as they meet the A-H description of abstinence education. Second there is the Administration for Children & Families, a division of Health & Human Services, which releases the Community Based Abstinence Education grant (CBAE). CBAE is open to organizations throughout the country who meet the required 13 themes of abstinence education, as well as the other requirements stated in that year’s proposal. The third funding stream is through Title XX of the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs (OAPP). Title XX provides funding for prevention demonstration projects to serve youth between ages 9-19, which provide abstinence education as defined by A-H Criteria of Title V.
A&M Partnership has partnered with CBAE grantees to hold trainings in every state of the country and to provide the Aspire abstinence curriculum for schools and organizations beginning abstinence education programs.
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