April 4, 2010 | Read Time: 5 minutes
Amid all the rhetoric and debate over health care and ballooning federal budgets lies an important shift in federal financing and policy that represents a terrific opportunity for all grant makers. As foundations weather the recession, re-examine programs, and consider new ideas for 2010, helping nonprofit organizations that provide sex education is an opportunity for tremendous impact across an array of issues.
And the need for such a shift is urgent: Teenage pregnancy rates are on the rise again, the first time since 1990, according to a report released in January by the Guttmacher Institute.
So it could not be better news that Congress had made an important change in how federal funds are distributed to groups that seek to prevent teenage pregnancy. After more than 10 years of exclusively financing programs to teach teenagers that “abstinence until marriage” is the only method to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection, Congress has provided $114.5-million for programs that have already been proven effective ($75-million or more available) or that show promise of innovation ($25-million available).
Making the most of the federal money by helping local and regional educators, school districts, health departments, and nonprofit organizations apply for aid to put such programs into action is an opportunity that foundations should not miss.
Sex education is a critical part of educating America’s youths. Without good information, myths and misinformation can lead to life-altering situations and unhealthy choices. Whether adults provide comprehensive sex education or not, teenagers will continue to have sex, as they have done for millennia.
A few measurements of the toll exacted by insufficient sexual education:
• Fifty percent of all new cases of sexually transmitted infections occur in people ages 25 and younger, even though this group represents only 25 percent of sexually active people, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.
• Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, and more than 80 percent of teenage pregnancies are unintended, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Roughly 42 percent of all unintended pregnancies result in abortion, according to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute.
• Only 40 percent of mothers who give birth before they turn 18 graduate high school, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
Sudies have shown that comprehensive sex-education programs can delay first intercourse and increase contraceptive use, resulting in fewer unintended pregnancies. And although studies on such programs’ additional benefits for teenagers from low-income families are inconclusive, combining comprehensive sex education with efforts to get young people to volunteer appears to work, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
Comprehensive sex-education programs should be part of an integrated approach to help teenagers make healthier choices, stay in school, and plan their future, breaking what may be generations of poverty in their families.
The benefits to society of curbing population growth through sex education and family planning go beyond fighting poverty and could even help reduce the harm that Americans do to the environment.
Though the population growth rate among native-born Americans is one of the lowest in the world, environmental experts say we use far more resources per person than people in other countries. For instance, according to the World Resources Institute, while China has surpassed the United States in total carbon emissions, its per capita emissions are one-quarter that of the United States.
But comprehensive sex-education programs, as valuable as they are in improving the lives of individuals and reducing damage to the planet, are not reaching every American child.
This is where grant makers can help. The need varies from state to state; some states and cities have more favorable sex-education policies than others. For example, states like Oregon and Maine have strong sex-education policies that set minimum standards for medical accuracy, for example, or require curricula that are based on strong evidence of how best to impart sex-education lessons. But other states do not.
Because the ways in which sex education is delivered are ultimately up to local health departments and school boards, even small grants can make a big difference.
The request for proposals for the new federal funds is due out this spring. The federal funds will likely require that organizations seek matching money from foundations to bring new, proven programs into local communities and school districts.
Unfortunately, the recession hit just as these policy changes and new opportunities emerged. The economic downturn has forced many foundations and private donors to cut back.
For that reason and others, foundations that in the past financed sex-education practice and policy work have eliminated their support.
It’s time for new grant makers to seize this opportunity and start new programs.
For foundations focused on the environment or reducing growing demands for energy, this is a great moment to consider a grant to help educate policymakers or the local school board on the environmental reasons to provide comprehensive sex education.
Foundations focused on reducing the drop-out rate in local schools should recognize that financing grants for sex education gets to the root of the issue in many cases.
Foundations and other donors can do three easy things to make a tremendous difference:
• Support solutions directly by giving money to educators that provide training and put tested, medically accurate, age-appropriate curricula in local school districts.
• Support state and national groups that provide research and expertise to local sex-education providers and educators.
• Investigate where your state and local school districts stand on comprehensive sex education and work to improve policies where needed.
This is a critical year for making positive changes in sex education at the national, state, and local levels. Real progress can be made in reducing unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and new cases of HIV, thereby improving individual lives, families, and communities.
Foundations and donors can be leaders in helping improve the health of young people and the planet by providing new money for comprehensive sex education in America.
