Project HEARTS - Health Exploration of Adolescent Relationships Training and Strategies - Project Title: Project HEARTS (Healthy Exploration of Adolescent Relationships Training & Strategies) Applicant Name: EntreNous Community Empowerment, Inc. Address: 1108 N. Oleander Ave., Compton, CA 90222 Phone: (310) 631-2000 Email: grant@entrenousempower.org Website: www.entrenousempower.org Youth ages 14 to 19 in Compton and nine surrounding Los Angeles County communities — Lynwood, South Gate, Willowbrook, Long Beach, Gardena, Paramount, Carson, Harbor City, and South-Central Los Angeles — face the region’s most serious risk factors for early sexual activity, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections. EntreNous Community Empowerment, Inc. (EntreNous) requests $450,000 in Title V Competitive Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) funding, the full California award ceiling, for Year 1 of a two-year project period, September 30, 2026 through September 29, 2028, to continue Project HEARTS. Compton’s teen birth rate stands at approximately 37.3 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, more than double the Los Angeles County rate of 15.4. Compton’s chlamydia rate of 870 cases per 100,000 people and gonorrhea rate of 384 per 100,000 both exceed county averages, and Compton’s health district carries the highest HIV rate of the three health districts serving this area. Regional data show compounding risk: about 14 percent of 9th and 11th graders report current alcohol or drug use, a known driver of early sexual activity. Among youth already served by EntreNous, 98 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, 35 percent are pregnant or parenting, 35 percent are involved in the justice system, and 15 percent are in or have been in foster care. Project HEARTS delivers The Dibble Institute’s Love Notes 4.1 AO, a 13-lesson evidence-based curriculum teaching personal responsibility, self-regulation, healthy relationships, resistance to sexual coercion and dating violence, and the risks of substance use, alongside the Success Sequence of finishing school, securing full-time employment, and marrying before having children — all in service of helping youth voluntarily avoid nonmarital sexual activity and build stable marriages and families. A randomized controlled trial of 1,448 youth found that Love Notes reduced the likelihood of pregnancy one year after program completion. Five bilingual, certified facilitators will deliver the curriculum in English and Spanish to a community that is approximately 85 percent Hispanic or Latino, supported by two certified backup facilitators and a wraparound referral network connecting participants to health care, mental health, education, and family support services. EntreNous has operated Project HEARTS since 2020, during which more than 740 youth have completed at least 90 percent of the program. EntreNous’ 2024–2025 entry and exit survey data show that 71 to 90 percent of participants reported improved outcomes across measures tied directly to the program’s objectives, including future orientation, healthy relationship understanding, and intent to complete the Success Sequence. Over the proposed two-year period of performance, Project HEARTS will recruit 600 youth, enroll 480, and support 320 to program completion, continuing to collect and report Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-approved performance measures and apply results through EntreNous’ Continuous Quality Improvement process to sustain and strengthen these outcomes.
