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A rigorous evaluation of My Road to Healthy Relationships: an innovative middle school pregnancy prevention program

Award Number: 90AP2708
ORGANIZATION: FAMILY AND YOUTH SERVICES BUREAU
OPDIV: ACF
AWARD CLASS: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: DEMONSTRATION
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/30/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 09/29/2031

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A rigorous evaluation of My Road to Healthy Relationships: an innovative middle school pregnancy prevention program - Child Trends—in partnership with Identity, Inc. (implementation partner) and Towson University (independent evaluator)—proposes to conduct a rigorous randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation of My Road to Healthy Relationships (My Road), an innovative relationship education and pregnancy prevention program for middle school students. The program is grounded in the principles of positive youth development (PYD) and addresses three key focus areas: (1) values and decision-making, (2) getting to know your body, and (3) healthy relationships. My Road is designed to build middle school students’ skills related to forming healthy relationships, making healthy and informed decisions aligned with their personal values, and avoiding risky sexual behaviors. Findings from focus groups and previous pilot testing indicate the curriculum and activities were well-received by students and provide initial evidence of My Road’s effectiveness, indicating its readiness for a full RCT evaluation. The goal of this project is to reduce teen pregnancy and STI rates by (1) piloting and rigorously evaluating the My Road relationship education and pregnancy prevention program and (2) disseminating findings, along with the manualized and packaged intervention, to communities and program implementors. The target population for this study is students in Title I middle schools in low-income communities in Montgomery County, Maryland. Teen birth rates in these communities are much higher than state and national rates, and the middle school age group is well suited for developmentally appropriate and innovative pregnancy prevention programming. Over two years of implementation, 700 students will be randomly assigned to receive eight 60-minute sessions of the My Road curriculum or an academic enrichment program (control group). The evaluation will assess the impact of My Road on abstinence from sexual activity and key mediators measuring knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, intentions, and parent-teen communication related to sexual abstinence and healthy relationships. This research will fill a key gap in promising relationship education programming for middle school students. Based on the project team’s capacity and expertise, and our history of successful collaboration between partner organizations, the My Road evaluation is well positioned to complete a rigorous evaluation and meet all project deliverables within the five-year project timeline. We are confident that Identity will be successful in recruiting and engaging 700 middle school students in the study, based on their collaborations with middle schools in Montgomery County, their work with young people and their families in the targeted schools, and their experience recruiting, engaging, and retaining young people in programming. Moreover, Child Trends has a strong track record of successfully managing multi-component projects and rigorous evaluations of promising interventions for federal funders.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $900,000 )
2026	2026	CHILD TRENDS, INCORPORATED	12300 TWINBROOK PKWY STE 235	ROCKVILLE	MD	20852	MONTGOMERY	USA	Affordable Care Act (ACA) Personal Responsibility Education Program	00	1	9/25/2026	NEW	$900,000
														Subtotal = $900,000

Grand Total All Awards = $900,000

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A rigorous evaluation of My Road to Healthy Relationships: an innovative middle school pregnancy prevention program

Award Number: 90AP2708

ORGANIZATION: FAMILY AND YOUTH SERVICES BUREAU

OPDIV: ACF

AWARD CLASS: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: DEMONSTRATION

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/30/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 09/29/2031

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