City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: APRIL 22, 2015
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of a Grant Application For Teen Pregnancy Prevention Funding To The Administration For Children, Youth And Families For The Alexandria Campaign On Adolescent Pregnancy.
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ISSUE: Consideration of a three year grant application to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Family Youth Service Bureau (FYSB) for funding through the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) Competitive Grants under the Affordable Care Act for the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy (ACAP).
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council:
1) Authorize the submission of the three-year grant application to ACF for funding in the amount of $442,094 per year (due May 5, 2015);
2) Approve a 2.0 FTE increase within the Department of Community and Human Services' (DCHS) Center for Children to be fully supported by grant revenues for a Management Analyst II to manage the PREP grant and a Health and Community Education Specialist and Families to provide outreach services and conduct youth engagement activities; and
3) Authorize the Acting City Manager to execute all necessary documents that may be required.
BACKGROUND: The ACF is accepting applications for the development and implementation of the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP). The purpose of this program is to support projects that educate at risk youth, between the ages of 10 and 19, and pregnant and parenting youth, under age 21, on abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS. Applicants will also be required to provide programming on at least three of six adulthood preparation subjects. The application is due May 5, 2015 and grant awards will be announced in September 2015.
ACAP successfully applied for the first PREP grant in 2012 and was awarded funds to implement evidence-based interventions in collaboration with several community partners and together with these community partners, provided programming up to 400 at risk youth in Alexandria. Youth who have participated in the program and were surveyed indicated significant positive outcomes in terms of knowledge gained and their intention to practice safe sex. In 2013, Alexandria also experienced a decrease of almost 20% in the teenage pregnancy rate.
Over the past two and a half years of the grant, the number of community partners and implementation sites has grown significantly. Current and new partners including CYEP, K.I. Services, Court Services Unit, ACPS, YoKid
Stretch Your Limits, the Virginia Cooperative Extension's 4-H Program, and the Alexandria Health Department have expressed interest to continue the programming and have committed to partnering with ACAP to apply for the 2015 PREP grant.
Other community partners who committed to providing access, referral, support and/or consultation include ACT for Alexandria, the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities, Sheltercare, the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center, the Dunbar-Alexandria Olympic Branch Boys and Girls Club, Community Lodgings, Inc. and coaches at T.C. Williams.
DISCUSSION: Alexandria's teen pregnancy rate for youth 10-19 years is among the highest in the region and state. According to data from the Virginia Department of Health, the 2013 teen pregnancy rate in Alexandria was 24.8 for every 1,000 girls. This rate is significantly higher than the state's rate (14.3/1,000). Although there was a significant decline in Alexandria's teen pregnancy rate from 2012 to 2013, the number remains high. Rates are highest among Hispanic and African American females.
In 2013, the City of Alexandria had the highest chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV and total early syphilis rates in Northern Virginia. In Alexandria by age group, 10-19 year olds had the second highest rate of chlamydia and gonorrhea diagnoses preceded by 20-24 year olds.
The 2015 PREP grant proposal includes ACAP partners providing evidence-based teen pregnancy and STI prevention programs with up to approximately 2,219 to 2,591 at risk youth per year, as follows:
· Capital Youth Empowerment Program will serve with primarily African-American males from T.C. Williams High School, African-American and Hispanic youth at the Boys and Girls Club, at-risk youth at the Northern Juvenile Detention Center and Sheltercare, and primarily African-American and Hispanic youth at the Alexandria City Recreation and Park Sites Community Lodgings, Inc.
· The Alexandria City Public Schools will serve students at T.C. Williams High School including the Minnie Howard Campus, the Satellite Campus, Chance for Change Academy, George Washington Middle School, Francis C. Hammond Middle School, and Jefferson Houston K-8 School.
· K.I. Services will serve Latino and LGBT youth at Cora Kelly Recreation Center.
· The Alexandria Court Service Unit will serve court involved youth.
The proposal includes a mindfulness and movement component implemented by YoKid based on current research on adolescent brain development and programming on financial literacy provided by educators from the Virginia Cooperative Extension's 4-H Youth Development Program.
With the goal of creating a more holistic, youth-development focused program to address adolescent pregnancy and as a way to create a continuum of programming and support for youth participants, ACAP's youth-led Keep It 360 Club will serve as the mechanism to engage youth who complete one of PREP's evidence-based curricula. Keep It 360 members will be given leadership opportunities and will be eligible to apply for paid Youth Peer Educator Positions.
A grant-funded Management Analyst II will manage the project within the DCHS Center for Children and Families. The Management Analyst II will be responsible for the comprehensive process, fiscal and outcome management of the project. The Analyst, in consultation with ACT for Alexandria and other community partners, will develop and activate a plan to sustain grant programs beyond the scope of the grant, independent of City funds.
This grant application is consistent with both the City Council Strategic Plan (Goal Four) and the Alexandria Children and Youth Master Plan (Goals One, Three, and Four).
FISCAL IMPACT: The federal fiscal year 2016 budget for this grant is $442,094. The grant period is October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2018, with no required matching funds. The City is responsible for the normal administrative costs associated with this grant. These costs include financial and reporting oversight provided by DCHS, the administering agency. Existing administrative staffing will provide these functions.
Grant funding will be used for these positions and the individuals who fills these grant-funded positions will be notified that the positions may terminate if grant funds become unavailable in the future. The employees will also be required to sign an agreement of understanding about this as a condition of employment at the time they are hired. If grant funding becomes unavailable in the future, outcome data will be analyzed to determine the project's effectiveness and may be used to search for alternative funding and/or to reprioritize current DCHS funding to support the program's continuation. If, however, grant funding becomes unavailable and alternative ongoing funding cannot be secured, the positions will be eliminated.
STAFF:
Kate Garvey, Director, Department of Community & Human Services (DCHS)
Deborah Warren, Director, Center for Children and Families, DCHS
La'Keisha Kennedy Flores, Acting Fiscal Officer III, DCHS
Tricia Bassing, Chief of Child Behavioral Health and Youth Development, DCHS
Lisette Torres, ACAP Coordinator/Management Analyst III, DCHS