Massachusetts Success Stories

The Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy Addressing Disparities Through Statewide Partnerships

The Challenge

• In 2006, there were 4,724 births to mothers aged 15–19 years in Massachusetts, a birth rate of 21 per 1,000 females in that age group.^1,2
• Significant disparities exist in birth rates for Massachusetts youth by race and Hispanic origin. In 2006, the non-Hispanic black teen birth rate was nearly three times higher than the white teen birth rate, and the Hispanic teen birth rate was nearly six times higher.¹
• In 2004 alone, preventing teen childbearing in Massachusetts would have saved tax payers an estimated $109 million.³

The Solution

• The Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy (MATP) has been building the capacities of organizations, and communities to reduce teen pregnancy, HIV, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). MATP provides training and technical assistance to community organizations funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to provide science-based teen pregnancy prevention programs.
• MATP is collaborating with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to strengthen science-based approaches to teen pregnancy prevention in schools.
• Youth in communities with some of the highest state teen birth rates are participating in programs shown to delay the initiation of sex, and to reduce sexual risk behaviors among sexually active youth.

 

Birth Rates (live births) per 1,000 Females Aged 15–19 Years, by Race and Hispanic Origin: Massachusetts and United States, 2006

Source:
¹ Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, Ventura SJ, Menacker F, Kimeyer S, Mathews TJ. Births: Final data for 2006. National Vital Statistics Reports 2009;57(7).
² Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. VitalStats: Birth Data Files. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/vitalstats.htm.
³ The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. By the Numbers: The Public Costs of Teen Childbearing. Available at: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/costs/national.aspx

 

Youth and Communities Served

In the past year, MATP provided training on science-based approaches to 424 providers who collectively serve more than 1,500 youth across Massachusetts.

• MATP helped form the Youth Empowerment Adolescent Health (YEAH!) Network—a coalition of youth development and medical service providers and advocates serving youth in Hampden County. YEAH! is working to increase teen pregnancy prevention programming throughout the region, and to strengthen educational and family approaches to prevent teen pregnancy.
  • YEAH! has selected 11- to 18-year-olds as the target population for teen pregnancy prevention programs in Hampden County. YEAH! serves primarily black and Hispanic youth from urban and surrounding communities.
  • Hampden County has the highest teen birth rate of all of Massachusetts.⁴
• MATP is assisting Health Quarters, a reproductive and sexual health services agency in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to organize more than 30 youth-serving organizations interested in building a coordinated, science-based approach to reduce Lawrence’s teen birth rate.
  • Coalition member agencies collectively serve several thousand urban Latino, white, and African American youth aged 11–21 years. Health Quarters served 525 youth aged 13–19 years at their Lawrence clinic in the last fiscal year.
  • In 2006, Lawrence’s teen birth rate of 81 was nearly four times greater than the state’s overall rate.⁴
• Health Awareness Services serves siblings of teen parents with California’s Adolescent Sibling Pregnancy Prevention Program model, and is working with MATP to better serve youth in foster care. In addition, more than 400 youth have been reached through this partner’s Speakers’ Bureau for teen parents.
  • Youth served are predominantly Hispanic and white youth aged 11–18 years near the suburbs of Southbridge.
  • Southbridge’s teen birth rate of 65/1,000 was the 6th highest in the state in 2006.⁴

 

Birth Rates per 1,000 Females Aged 15–19 Years in Priority Communities in Massachusetts, 2006

Source:
⁴ O’Keefe G, Cohen B, Nyberg S. Massachusetts Births 2006. Boston: Massachusetts Department of Public Health; 2008.

 

Expected Impact

• The number of Massachusetts’ young people reached with science-based teen pregnancy prevention interventions will increase by 2010.
• The program will contribute to reducing state teen birth rates, especially in communities with the highest teen birth rates.

Targeted Population(s)

• Middle school and high school age youth.
• Youth facing disparities in teen pregnancy, HIV, and STD rates.

Contact:
Patricia Quinn—Executive Director
Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy
105 Chauncy Street, 8th floor
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: 617.482.9122 x114
Fax: 617.482.9129
quinn@massteenpregnancy.org
www.massteenpregnancy.org