Thursday, April 25, 2024
4/25/2024
In 2007, Mission West Virginia (MWV) launched pregnancy prevention programs in West Virginia primarily serving low income, at-risk, rural youth. MWV is an Appalachian Region nonprofit organization with over 20 years of experience in developing and operating programs to strengthen families in the areas of teen pregnancy prevention, positive youth development, healthy relationship education, and workforce development in order to help individuals achieve optimal health. The purpose of the MWV project is to saturate the target community with effective programs Love Notes 3.0 -Evidence-Based (Love Notes) and Choosing the Best. Love Notes has been proven effective, through rigorous evaluation, to reduce teenage pregnancy and other associated risk factors. Choosing the Best has been proven effective, through rigorous evaluation, to delay the onset of sexual activity and other associated risk factors. MWV seeks to replicate these impressive results by providing as many youth and parents/caregivers as possible with the skills to decrease teen pregnancy and STIs and achieve optimal health as well as provide the necessary support services to ensure all needs are being met. MWV and their direct service partners, Rainelle Medical Center and Community Action of Southeastern WV, will deliver the effective teen pregnancy prevention program to 10,000 youth ages 11-19 annually that reside in Cabell, Fayette, Greenbrier, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Nicholas, and Webster counties, which have a combined teen birth rate of 32.0, which is 1.25 times higher than that of WV (25.4) and 1.5 times higher than that of the US (17.4). MWV will serve 24 high schools, 28 middle schools, and three alternative schools, bringing the effective program saturation level to 66.2%. In addition, MWV will provide education related to teen pregnancy and STI prevention, support services, and community resources to 5,500 parents/caregivers of program youth through events, workshops, and curricula homework assignments in order to achieve optimal health. MWV intends to have a significant impact on reducing rates of teen pregnancy, STIs, and existing disparities among populations with the greatest need. MWV will use a systems thinking approach to bolster the effects of the effective programs to have the greatest impact on optimal health and the prevention of teen pregnancy and STIs through the use of leverage points in the form of additional services. The leverage points include connect participants to needed supports services, providing booster sessions to youth on safety and consent, training school personnel in trauma informed care, and having a mental health specialist available for 1:1 counseling and additional support. MWV will work with support service partners, WV Department of Health and Human Resources, County Health Departments, Adolescent Health Initiative, WV Center for Children’s Justice, Southern Highlands, Prestera, WV FRIS, Prevent Suicide WV, and Huntington Pride, to help youth and their parent/caregivers address risk factors and build protective factors to achieve optimal health. AMTC & Associates will provide Performance Measurement and Evaluation services for the project. In addition, the MWV Community Advisory Group (CAG) and Youth Leadership Council (YLC) will provide stakeholder representation, oversight, and input for project implementation.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
