MAY IS NATIONAL TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION MONTH
Families United to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (FUPTP) Celebrating 20th Anniversary

Milwaukee, Wis. (May 16, 2006) – The month of May, National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month (NTPPM), is an opportunity for communities to work together to prevent teen pregnancy. Nationally, teen pregnancy rates have decreased by nearly 30 percent in the last decade, however, the United States still has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births among all industrialized countries. Each year over 850,000 U.S. teens get pregnant.

Milwaukee, as well as Wisconsin, has experienced high teen birth rates. According to The Right Start for America’s Newborns (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005), Milwaukee’s rate of teen births is one of the highest among the nation’s 50 largest cities, ranking second for the percentage of total births to teens, with Wisconsin ranking number one for birth rates in African-American teens.

Milwaukee’s Rosalie Manor Community & Family Services has many established programs and services that combat teen pregnancy and promote sexual abstinence; helping educate at risk teens and working to reduce the community’s high teen birth rate.   

Twenty Years of Success

May also marks Rosalie Manor’s Families United to Prevent Teen Pregnancy program’s 20th anniversary. Established in 1986, FUPTP serves youth ages 12-18. The program’s goals are to reduce the number of adolescents who engage in premarital sex, reduce incidences of teen pregnancy, teach youth strategies to increase their life skills and strengthen the role of parents in promoting abstinence.

A recent survey conducted by Rosalie Manor of its FUPTP participants found:

• 85% of participants surveyed remained abstinent.
  
  
  
• 100% of participants surveyed are not pregnant or have not fathered a child.
  
  
  
• 1,114 Milwaukee youth were served in community based presentations on FUPTP topics.
  
  
  
• Youth performed multiple community service projects and neighborhood clean–ups.
  

Annual Abstinence Rally Scheduled

As part of National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, a “Rally for Abstinence” is being held on May 26, 2006 at Milwaukee’s Gengler Park, located on 50th & Burleigh. Part of the FUPTP program for 20 years, the event’s goal is to raise awareness and send a message to the community that 6 out of 10 youth are choosing the abstinent lifestyle and are making positive choices with their lives. For more information on the rally, please contact Dan Garcia at 414-449-2868 x 231 or via email at email.