Overall Goal:
Increase Economic Security of Women and Girls by Preventing Teen Pregnancy
Focus Area #1: Access to Evidence-Based, Medically Accurate, Comprehensive Sex Education
Successful grant applications in this issue area will seek to do one or more of the following:
- Advocate for evidence-based,* medically accurate, comprehensive (also called “abstinence-plus”) sex education in Mississippi schools.
- Provide sex education in the community, school, and/or health clinic setting.
- Increase the capacity of nonprofits to incorporate sex education into their programming activities.
- Involve young people in a meaningful way in the advocacy efforts focused on increasing access to evidence-based, comprehensive sex education.
- Increase parental involvement in the teaching of sex education and/or advocacy efforts focused on increasing access to sex education.
- Research/data collection/policy analysis to support the activities listed above.
Note: “Sex education” refers to sex education that is evidence-based, medically accurate, abstinence-plus (also called “comprehensive”) sex education.
*For the most recent list of evidence-based programs, please see: http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/oah-initiatives/tpp/programs.html (Office of Adolescent Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services.) The Women’s Fund will only consider those applications that seek to replicate an evidence-based, “abstinence-plus” program. Abstinence-plus programs include information about abstinence and contraception, recognizing that over 76% of Mississippi 12th graders have already had sex.
Focus Area #2: Access to Youth-Friendly Health Services
Successful grant applications in this issue area will seek to do one or more of the following:
- Increase access to youth-friendly health services, focusing on low-income* teens. Health services include the availability of contraception for teens who are sexually active.
- Provide adolescent mothers with intensive guidance and support in order to decrease subsequent pregnancies.
- Involve young women in advocacy efforts surrounding the need for more youth-friendly health services.
- Increase the number of young women who visit health clinics for preventive health services.
- Research/data collection/policy analysis to support the activities listed above.
*Low-income teens refer to teens in families at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level ($38,180 annually for a family of three).
Focus Area #3: Access to Opportunity: Leadership Development and Training for Young Women*
Successful grant applications in this issue area will provide programs that increase young women’s (ages 12-19) readiness to achieve economic well-being. Grantees will focus their work in one or more of these five areas:
- Academic programs: Programs that help girls stay in school and pursue college and future career goals.
- Entrepreneurial programs: Programs that teach and support girls in business planning and development.
- Employment Development and High-Paying/High-Skill Careers: Programs that build girls’ employment skills and/or encourage them to pursue high-paying and high-skill careers.
- Public education: Programs in which girls organize on particular issues that impact their economic success.
- Enrichment: Programs that use the arts or sports to develop girls’ leadership and increase their ability to achieve economic success.
Priority is given to programs that serve underrepresented and underserved girls across the state and also incorporate best practices in the design and implementation of their program. Best practices include the following:
- Provide opportunities for young women to contribute to program decision-making.
- Provide mentors to help girls increase their academic achievement and readiness for post-secondary education.
- Provide collaborations to build a full spectrum of services. Collaborations between programs and community organizations build a full spectrum of services for girls, and make it possible to create a holistic approach.
- Strong personal relationships between staff and girls.
- Long-term programs. Many program staff envision a continuum of daily, weekly, or monthly support as well as long-term involvement over a course of years. One-time intensive experiences do not offer long-term gains. A regular and extended program offers continuous support to girls as they navigate the tricky transition into adulthood.
- Quality over quantity. The most effective programs are those that serve fewer girls, have smaller staff, and provide more in-depth programming.
- Provide a girls-only space. A girls-only space that is safe both physically and emotionally is critical.
- Source: Improving Philanthropy for Girls’ Programs, Three Guineas Fund, 2001.
Focus Area #4: Access to Opportunity: Job Training and Wrap Around Support Services for Low Income Women*
Successful grant applications in this issue area will seek to do one or more of the following:
- Increase the number of low income women enrolled in a job skills training program, preferably a high-demand sector job training program leading to industry-recognized credentials and connections to employers offering self-sufficiency wages and good benefits.
- Increase the availability of work supports (transportation, child care) available to women enrolled in job training programs.
- Increase the number of women employed in a job that pays a self-sufficiency wage.*
* A self-sufficiency wage for one adult and two children in Mississippi is $12.50 an hour. For additional information, please see Self Sufficiency Standard publication by the Mississippi Economic Policy Center. http://www.selfsufficiencystandard.org/docs/Mississippi%202009.pdf
Focus Area #5: Access to Opportunity: Asset Development and Financial Education for Low Income Women*
Successful grant applications in this issue area will seek to do one or more of the following:
- Increase the number of low income women receiving financial education.
- Decrease the number of women who take out predatory loan products, such as payday loans and title loans.
- Increase the number of women who go from “unbanked or underbanked” to banked.
- Increase the number of women enrolled in Individual Development Accounts (IDAs).
- Increase the number of female heads of household who apply for Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC).
Definitions:
- Low Income: at or below 200% Federal Poverty Level
- Self Sufficiency Wage: at least $12.50 an hour for a family of 3
- Young Women:12-19 years old
- Sex Education: evidence-based, medically accurate, abstinence-plus (also called “comprehensive”)