Program Description

The PREP program seeks to empower youth to make healthier choices regarding their sexual health, including preventing pregnancy and lowering sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates using the following approaches:

• Providing comprehensive sexual health education using the Making Proud Choices curriculum;
• Providing lessons in healthy relationships, career building, and financial literacy aimed at helping youth who exit care and move into independent living in adulthood;
• Providing pregnant and parenting teens with skill building lessons aimed at helping them reach their fullest health potential;
• Engaging parents, families, and communities in supportive conversations centered on youth development to improve adolescent mental health.

Priority Population

• Systems-involved youth ages 14-21 in a 14-county region across Northeast Ohio

What is the problem we are working to address?

• The teen birth rate for females ages 15-17 in Cuyahoga County is the highest in the region.

Data about high school aged-youth in Cuyahoga County*:

• 1 in 3 have ever had sex
• 1 in 5 are currently sexually active
• Only 1 out of 2 of students having sex reported using a condom
• 1 out of 3 of sexually active students use some other method of birth control
• 1 in 10 do not use any method of birth control
• Only 6.1% have ever been tested for a sexually transmitted infection (STI) other than HIV

*data source:  Cuyahoga County 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Why does it matter? 

• Youth are faced with many choices and need an active toolkit full of resources to guide their decision making.
• Youth need trusted adults that encourage them to have honest and open sexual health conversations as they transition to adulthood.
• Youth need access to the best information possible to make the best choices for their health.
• Youth are autonomous and have the capacity to make their own decisions.

What are the solutions?

The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) offers

• Building a network of youth-serving adult educators to serve as a trusted source of sexual health information for young people.
• Using a trauma-informed approach that provides medically accurate sexual health information to teens in a sensitive and judgement free matter.
• Empowering youth to use their lived experience and knowledge to make informed and healthier choices for themselves.

Key Partners:

• Ohio Guidestone
• Ohio Department of Youth Services