HEALTHY FUTURES OF TEXAS

Programming for parent education uses an implementation model that involves partnering with schools, agencies, and organizations that already serve parents and caregivers of pre-adolescent and adolescent children. Parent Education Workshops can be tailored to the needs of partnering entities.

There are two types of workshops offered:

• Key Conversations, the companion program to Big Decisions, is two interactive parent sessions in which participants gain a better understanding of teen development, the importance of supervision, tips for improved communication, overcoming barriers to talking, and how to build stronger relationships with their children.

• Families Talking Together (FTT) is an evidence-based parent program effective in delaying sexual initiation and preventing risky sexual behavior among middle-school-aged Latino and African-American youth. Parents are given information and taught skills they can use to help their adolescent children form healthy relationships, set goals, employ refusal skills, and increase self-esteem. Parents also learn about their teen’s development, monitoring and supervision strategies, and how to build stronger relationships with their teen children. FTT was developed for parents who have children ages 10-14.

YAC seeks to equip teens to become leaders of change in their community regarding sexual health education and teen pregnancy prevention through civic participation at the local and state level. We believe that teen pregnancy prevention can be addressed by educating, training, and empowering teens to become effective advocates for teen pregnancy prevention measures.

The TWHC is a project supported by Healthy Futures of Texas and its 87 healthcare, faith, and community-based organizations are committed to improving the lives of Texas women, children, and families by ensuring access to preventive healthcare, including contraception, for all low-income Texas women. TWHC has been a vital unified voice advocating for policy change at the state level.

Funded by the Families & Youth Services Bureau of the administration for Children's and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HFTX and three of San Antonio’s Alamo Community Colleges have teamed up for a 3 year project. The BAE-B-SAFE program is aimed to prevent unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease to college-aged teens on and off campus. Students are provided medically accurate information about their sexual and reproductive health and are connected to Healthcare Providers in their surrounding community. BAE-B-SAFE is committed to preparing and connecting these college-aged teens with the resources they need to be empowered about their sexual and reproductive health.

The OAH Tier 2B Big Decisions Study is a 5-year grant awarded by the Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Tier 2B Grant No. TP2AH000044-01-00) in several Texas border/rural school districts, including the Eagle Pass Independent School District and the San Felipe del Rio Consolidated Independent School District. The project studies the effectiveness of the abstinence-plus teenage pregnancy prevention curriculum (Big Decisions) created by Dr. Janet Realini, founder of Healthy Futures of Texas. The study is implemented with 9th grade students and focuses on pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) prevention as well as positive youth development.

The study is a randomized control trial comparing the 3 curriculum interventions. Classes within the district are randomly assigned to receive the Big Decisions curriculum, the Big Decisions Plus curriculum, or the Big Decisions: Youth Voices curriculum. Healthy Futures of Texas requires that ONLY students whose parents want them to participate are in the study. Healthy Futures of Texas has an informed‐consent process for parent consent and for students to assent to participation.