Teenager Anita Lawson* grew up east of the river, moving to the area when she was in middle school.  She attended Johnson Junior High and has yet to finish at Ballou High School. The oldest of three, Anita was usually the oldest in her class because she had stayed back a grade when she was in elementary school. However, she usually was placed in advanced classes for English because of her strong writing skills and creative ability.

A powerful spoken word artist, she loved performing. She was a success story, winning poetry awards and being a published poet by the age of 16. She attended a prominent youth program at THEARC after school and was such a strong role model to her peers that she was offered a paying position as a peer leader when she was only 18 years old and still a junior in high school. Anita publicly disclosed, as she taught, that she was a virgin, and she facilitated sessions on abstinence and teen health.

All that changed in late 2006. She hooked up with another teen whom she describes as “the love her life.” She wasn’t performing as much anymore. Almost instantly, she was sexually active and distracted from her job. Now, less than a year later, she is three months pregnant with twins, a high-school drop-out and struggling with a sense of depression and an overwhelming sense of responsibility. Her job is in jeopardy because of her incessant absences.

“I woke up one day and realized that I had just become a statistic,” she says.

What led to this shift in Anita’s behavior that has resulted in yet another instance of a young woman getting pregnant while in school?

Finding the Answers
Teen pregnancy has been on a decline for six years in Wards 7 and 8. But despite the decline, many teen women still become pregnant. As Lawson's story shows, for many East Washington young women, negotiating pregnancy can still be the greatest challenge to success. The DC State Department of Health Statistics reports that the 2004 teen pregnancy rate was 79.4 pregnancies per 1,000 girls age 15 to 19. Government agencies and nonprofit groups scramble to respond to these alarming numbers.

“Until the community as a larger whole and the values at home change, there will not be any drastic changes,” says Ann Brogioli, a licensed social worker stationed in Hart Middle School on Mississippi Avenue in Southeast. She believes that on some level, the culture of the community contributes to the high rates of teen pregnancy found within the area. She feels that teen pregnancy is pretty much accepted as being inevitable in some households in the area.

It is not surprising for her to hear about a student like Anita, who had a strong start as a leader and achiever yet still became pregnant, because, she says, there are stronger messages from her peers saying it’s OK to have sex and have a child as a teen than there are saying hold off from sex and become an adult first. “The thing is, when a young person gets pregnant, you want to show support, but you have to let them know it’s not the best choice. Finding that balance has been the tricky part.”

The imbalance, Brogioli believes, may be sending the message to the more impressionable youth that being a teen parent isn’t so much of a big deal. So when teens have children and are less apt to complete school and pursue opportunities outside of their immediate environment, they create a cycle where the reality is higher that their offspring and/or the children that they are role models for will follow suit.

“Literature has shown that if youth can postpone pregnancy and gain occupational skills and education, there are better outcomes in the long run regarding social and economic advances,” says Dr. Carlos Cano, senior deputy director of the Department of Health’s Maternal and Family Health Administration. He acknowledges the importance of programming that reaches young people holistically and addresses all of their needs, encouraging them to aspire to do productive things.

In Hart Middle School alone, there are several after-school programs made available to students through the popular funding agency Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation. During the in-school hours as well, local nonprofits that work with youth facilitate sessions on topics ranging from self-esteem building and health education to creative writing and abstinence training. “The Best Friends program, Covenant House Washington’s Prevention Services, the African Heritage drummers and the DC Creative Writing Workshop are just some of the groups that work with the students here,” says Brogioli.

But do these and other programs in the area really work? Do their messages of safe or no sex drive home to the young people they are meant for? Do their attempts to engage youth in interactive and creative activity diminish the young people’s desire to become sexually active early or engage in other risky behaviors?

“I would like to see the research evidence that lets us know if these programs are really reaching their goals. Is a pregnancy prevention program successful if a student gets pregnant while in the program? What I’m seeing is that the same kids are attending these programs. What is being done to reach those kids who need the information and support the most,” asks Brogioli. She believes that youth programs are of little impact if they are not inclusive of youth family members and are expanded to include family services. “Youth issues stem, most times, from family issues,” she says.

Teens Make Their Own Choices
But some may disagree. “Kids are going to do what they want to do,” Anita Lawson says. “All adults can really do is give the information – providing the tools to follow – but the choice is going to be made by the kid whether or not they choose to listen.”

Lawson admits that her decision to become sexually active was her own, even though she knew the consequences. However, in the back of her mind, she was always aware that several of her relatives similar in age had kids, and she never doubted her ability to be a good mom. “I was always watching someone’s child or doing something for someone else’s baby,” she says, her pleasant voice resonating. Her “play niece” – the daughter of a young woman who was raised in the same neighborhood – was often left alone with Anita for days. She became responsible for taking the 4-year-old to daycare, and later to school. It was not uncommon for Anita to carry the toddler with her to work if the child’s mther was unavailable. “I’ve always been good with kids,” Lawson says, “It’s natural.”

But 17-year-old Mary Blackford says her natural choice is to remain abstinent as a teen. The focused HD Woodson student credits family and strong programs for building her resolve to avoid risky behaviors.

“I’m not a teen mom, I think because my mother wasn’t a teen mom,” says Blackford. “I have a strong foundation here in my home. They always stayed on me, and we’re a religious family. My family believes you get married before you have children. If I got pregnant, I’d get in trouble.” Also, she says, it would cut into her plans. Recently becoming accepted to Babson College in Boston, Blackford aspires to becoming a business professional who will one day give back to her community.

As a member of several youth programs – including Leaders of Tomorrow, a program of the National Black MBA Association, Covenant House Washington’s Teen Life Choices and the Ophelia Project, a program of Planned Parenthood – Blackford has an opportunity to compare the messages she receives regarding making appropriate choices for the goals she has set for herself. She thinks program efficacy rests on consistency in the message and the program’s staff true care for the youth they serve.

“I think a lot of people don’t come from a strong foundation like what  I have at home. When the programs are not consistent in what they say, when they aren’t always being professional, and aren’t practicing what they preach, students are going to pick up on what is true and what’s not. We also can tell if you really care or not.”

Eighth-grader Saietra Robinson, 14, has been a member of Peaceaholics since 2005 because she believes they really care. Though Robinson has times where she has to work on practicing self-control, curbing her fighting instinct and habit of getting in trouble at school, she recently has been able to stop herself before flying off the handle because of the peace contract she signed as a member of the Peaceaholics. Peaceaholics is an organization that offers youth programming in conflict resolution, pregnancy prevention, parenting skills and street law.

“I like the Peaceaholics. They let us do things,” says Robinson.

Successful Programs Meet Needs
“We’re competing with music videos, video games and movies,” says Brogioli as she discusses what some of the challenges are to luring students to after-school programs once the school bell rings to end the day. Getting kids engaged after school is of utmost importance because youth worker professionals know that if the young people aren’t slouched in front of the television, then between the hours of 3 to 8 p.m., they are more likely to engage in risky behaviors like experimentation with sex and drugs, especially if they are latch-key kids waiting for their parents to come home from work.

Several established programs in the District recognize this issue and are already addressing it through comprehensive programming. Girls Inc. of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area is an affiliate of the international Girls Inc. organization, which has affiliates in the US and Canada. For over 140 years, the organization’s mantra has been to serve communities by “inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold,” says WDCMA Program Director Nadirah Moreland.

Providing girls with a structured menu of programming designed to address their needs holistically, the organization addresses developmental needs of safety, security and membership through their Project Bold program which focuses on self-defense and violence prevention.

Blackford, who balances her time between her three programs, believes that each program responds differently to needs she and other students have.

“Leaders of Tomorrow is preparing for what I’ll do when I graduate college. Covenant House Washington is great for those of us who are abstinent and have never had sex, while Planned Parenthood’s Ophelia Project is great for those who have already made the choice to have sex. I worked last summer as an outreach worker for the Ophelia Project, passing out contraception and stuff, and the information provided is really great for those who have made the decision to have sex.”

All in all, both Blackford and Brogioli believe that programs need to spend more time on evaluating what it is that makes them successful and then replicating it to reach a greater number of young people.

“We have to understand why two kids can be in the same program and one gets pregnant and the other one doesn’t,” says Brogioli.

Blackford agrees. “I think we get stereotyped a lot, and the belief is that every African- American young lady will get pregnant, join a gang or drop out of school, and that is not true. We have to find the answer to why people come out of these programs and still get pregnant. I think the answer can be found in how the youth feel when they are there.”

*Name changed to protect the privacy of those mentioned.

Visit www.cyitc.org to learn about area youth programs.

Eight Tips When Researching a Youth Program For Your Daughter
When Ben Dawson, parent to 13-year-old Mischay, was recently searching for a summer camp to enroll his eldest daughter in, he discovered a number of free after-school programs and summer camps, making his decision even more difficult. How does a parent choose the best program for their child? If you find yourself asking the same question, consider the following helpful tips.

Participant Size. Inquire about the number of participants enrolled and what the student to staff ratio is. Programs that have high enrollment and low staff numbers have fewer people available to give more personal attention to your daughter.

Program Staff. Make sure that the staff working with your child are qualified to do the work they are doing. Ask how staff persons are screened before hired and what their educational and professional background is. If you are told it is none of your business, then that should be a red flag that this may not be the best place for your child.

What are the “Get-to’s?” What are the things that your child will get to do while in the program? Is it academic-based where activities are more sit-down and educational, or is it recreational-based where physical activity is the norm? Find out beforehand so you can get your child excited about what to expect.

Policy on Safety. How does the program notify you if there is an emergency involving your child specifically or if something is happening program-wide that may impact your child? Find out beforehand so that you can plan accordingly once enrolling your child.

What is FREE? Many programs lure parents with the promise of FREE when all aspects of the programs are not free of cost. Ask beforehand what is free so that you can make arrangements if there are certain costs related to lunch, field trips, late-pick up, transportation, etc.

Family Involvement. Are there services provided to the families of the young people enrolled in the program? For example, Covenant House Washington has a parent component that offers monthly workshops for parents, and Girls Inc. offers financial literacy classes.

Program Attendance. Is there a penalty if your child does not attend each program day? If your child will be involved in different programs during the summer or after-school, notify the program immediately so that they are aware of your child’s involvements.

What Are The Successes? If you choose a program that claims to help children prepare for college or reduce teen pregnancy, ask about specific success stories. How many children who entered the program went off to college? How many children left the program without becoming teen parents? Also, find out how many of the participants are “returners” – youth who continue to return to the program each year. If the same young people return to the camp each year, chances are that the positives definitely outweigh the negatives, and they have a good thing going on.