SHEC SRAE Youth Program - Safe Havynn Education Center (SHEC) will continue implementing the General Departmental Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (GD-SRAE) Program to improve the health, well-being, and future success of youth ages 10–17 across Lafayette, St. Landry, and St. Martin Parishes. During the current project period, SHEC successfully delivered the evidence-based REAL Essentials Advance curriculum to 435 youth, exceeding its annual enrollment target while expanding partnerships with schools, community organizations, treatment providers, workforce programs, and juvenile justice agencies. During the continuation period, SHEC will provide medically accurate, age-appropriate Sexual Risk Avoidance Education to at least 500 adolescents through interactive classroom instruction, multi-session series, workshops, and intensive programming delivered with fidelity to the REAL Essentials Advance curriculum. Instruction addresses all required SRAE A–F topics, including healthy relationships, adolescent development, selfregulation, goal setting, success sequencing, communication, resisting peer pressure and sexual coercion, the benefits associated with voluntarily refraining from non-marital sexual activity, and prevention of youth risk behaviors. The project will continue leveraging a network of community and educational partners to increase access to evidence-based programming for youth experiencing economic, social, and environmental challenges. Program implementation will be supported by comprehensive participant recruitment, facilitator training, fidelity monitoring, attendance tracking, participant pre- and post-assessments, continuous quality improvement, and ongoing performance monitoring to ensure high-quality implementation and measurable outcomes. Through this continuation project, SHEC will strengthen protective factors, improve healthy relationship skills, promote responsible decision-making and future planning, and help adolescents develop the knowledge, skills, and motivation needed to make healthy choices that support lifelong educational, career, and personal success while advancing the goals of the Administration for Children and Families and the Family and Youth Services Bureau.
