The unvarnished facts of life, Kern County-style, came rapid-fire in the crowded classroom at West High School.
“How many of you know that Kern has the highest teenage birth rate of any county in California?” Barbara Gladden asked the students.
As a family life and sex education specialist from Clinica Sierra Vista, Gladden spends much of her time travelling from campus to campus talking about the life-altering consequences of becoming sexually active too early in life.
Sexually-transmitted disease. Pregnancy. Poverty. Single motherhood. Failure to graduate high school.
These pitfalls and many more are hammered into the heads of teenagers by Gladden nearly every day. But for how much longer?
As a result of California’s epic budget crisis, several sex education and pregnancy prevention programs have already been cut — and more may be on the chopping block, said Norman Constantine, a clinical professor of public health at UC Berkeley and the
EXAMPLES OF CUTS TO TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION PROGRAMS IN KERN
Adolescent Sibling Pregnancy Prevention Program
Funding: State general funds and matching federal Title XIX
Description: Provided case management and support services to siblings of pregnant and parenting teens to prevent teen pregnancy and improvement school performance. Siblings of parenting teens are at high risk of pregnancy. Program served nearly 500 teens between 1997-2006. Only 49 teens became pregnant or caused a pregnancy.
Cuts: 2000 vs. 2010 funding: $305,660 / $0
Program eliminated in 2006. No new funding proposed.
Male Involvement Program
Funding: State general funds and matching federal Title XIX
Description: Teen pregnancy prevention program that focused on young at-risk males by providing education and group activities
2000 vs. 2010 funding: $86,500 / $0
Program eliminated in 2008. No new funding proposed.
Teen Smart Outreach Program
Funding: State general funds and matching federal Title XIX
Description: Teen pregnancy prevention program that linked high school teens to local resources including family planning, pregnancy testing, STD testing and treatment and counseling.
2000 vs. 2010 funding: $100,000 / $0
Program eliminated in 2008. No new funding proposed.
Information and Education
Funding: State general funds and matching federal Title XIX
Description: Provides middle and high school students with curriculum-based information
2000 vs. 2010 Funding: $150,000 / Unknown
Expected Cuts: Program was cut from $150,000 to $125,000 in July 2007 and cut again to $81,741 in July 2008. Education officials fear this program could be eliminated entirely in 2010.
Source: Clinica Sierra Vista