Garrett County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coaliation

Garrett County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition

The local teen pregnancy prevention coalition has finalized its action plan for the upcoming year. The process to develop the plan included several work sessions and included the input from over a dozen stake holder groups. Current Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition members includes representation from the Commission for Women, the local health department, the local medical community, the Board of Education and their health advisory committee, the Department of Social Services, the Caring Connection, the local faith communities, the Office for Children, Youth and Families, the Department of Natural Resources, and parents.

In preparing the TPPC Action Plan, coalition members prioritized factors contributing to early childbearing. Based on the prioritization, six objectives were developed. Each objective has identified results, steps, person/group responsible, timeline and measurement. The objectives are as follows:

"Get stuff to do" Increase/create activities for teens;
Increase/provide for career/life planning to encourage personal goal setting and responsibility;
Decrease drug, alcohol and tobacco use among Garrett County youth;
Get information to parents and teens regarding teen pregnancy prevention;
Increase community awareness of teen pregnancy issues and sexually transmitted diseases; and,
Increase effective coordination/collaboration of organizational systems that address teen pregnancy

The Garrett County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition's core beliefs and values including all children are valuable, all persons are welcome to participate and the emphasis on honesty and openness have encouraged the growth of the project. The Coalition began work in March of 1996 and recently presented at a Governor's Council on Adolescent Pregnancy Conference.

According to co-chairs, Earleen Beckman and Susan Athey-Oxford,
"the local interagency efforts are far and above the other jurisdictions and we believe this is attributable to our unique emphasis on including everyone in the planning and implementation process." The TPPC established the priority of providing empirically accurate information to its membership early in the planning phase. The TPPC guides local efforts to a stronger focus on primary prevention and county specific interventions.

The TPPC meetings are scheduled for the 4th Thursday of each month from 4:00-5:30 p.m. at the GCC Continuing Education Building. Minutes of the TPPC are posted electronically on the GARRETTINFO page under "About Public Meetings". TPPC is funded by the Governor's Council on Adolescent Pregnancy, the Local Health Department, and the GC Local Management Board.
For more information about the TPPC, persons may call the Health Department at 301-334-8111 or 301-553-0001

Page design and layout by: Clarence McRobie