Urban Youth Collaborative's SRAE Program - Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC) proposes a three-year sexual risk avoidance education project serving 1,350 youth ages 12–19 (grades 7–12) at six school and community-based sites in three high-need San Diego County ZIP codes (91950, 92102, and 92115). The target community demonstrates substantial need, with a teen birth rate of 54.9 per 1,000 among Hispanic and Black teens, nearly six times the California rate of 9.3 and more than three times the national rate of 15.3. Teen chlamydia reaches 1,606.8 per 100,000, nearly 1.5 times the state rate. Between 82% and 94% of students at the four school sites are economically disadvantaged. Additional challenges include high rates of child poverty, father-absent households, and youth in foster care, homeless and runaway, and trafficking-affected populations. UYC will deliver two marriage-centered Dibble Institute curricula, Love Notes 4.2 Abstinence Only for high school youth and Relationship Smarts PLUS 5.2 Abstinence Only for middle school youth, to 450 youth annually across two high schools, one middle school, one combined middle and high school, a community-based site serving homeless and runaway youth, and the UYC/APC Teen Center. LN and RSP address all six statutory A–F topics and the Success Sequence for Poverty Prevention and provide medically accurate and complete, age-appropriate, culturally appropriate sexual risk avoidance education that normalizes avoiding nonmarital sexual activity as the optimal health behavior within a positive youth development approach. The publisher certifies that neither edition contains contraception content. Universal human trafficking education, covering both sex and labor trafficking, will be provided to all participants. Educators will offer needs assessment to 100% of youth and connect youth to youth-friendly community partners that do not normalize sexual activity outside of marriage, with urgent referrals initiated within 72 hours. UYC will also educate 250 parents, caregivers, and community leaders. UYC will train 100% of project staff annually and monitor curriculum fidelity through classroom observation and educator fidelity logs. AMTC & Associates, UYC's partner for four years, will conduct the Project Performance Assessment. UYC has implemented six federal and state SRAE projects since 2022, serving 4,010 youth across 36 sites with an 87% completion rate that exceeds the OMB-approved SRAE Program Performance Measure of 75%. Experienced incumbent leadership and project staff, including a Dibble Institute certified Trainer of Trainers, support full implementation within 90 days of award. The project advances the ACF priorities of Promoting Work and Self-Sufficiency, Promoting Marriage and Family Formation, and Ensuring Value Alignment in Funding and incorporates ACF's A Home for Every Child initiative. By the end of program delivery, UYC expects at least 75% of youth to demonstrate increased intentions to delay sexual activity until marriage, self-regulation skills, skills to resist sexual coercion, and intentions to follow the Success Sequence for Poverty Prevention; 85% of youth will report program satisfaction; and 80% of adults completing education will report increased skills to support youth. UYC requests $450,000 annually, $1,350,000 over the three-year project period.
