DREAM

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DREAM “Developing Resilience by Education in Abstinence in Mississippi”

Poverty in Mississippi translates into deplorable outcomes for our youth. We are at the top in all the wrong categories, including teen pregnancy. Mississippi has one of the highest teen birth rates in the nation.

The Community Students Learning Center’s DREAM (Developing Resilience by Education in Abstinence in Mississippi) program aims to help decrease that rate by educating its community youth through its abstinence program.

The summer of 2012 was the inception of the DREAM Teen Pregnancy Prevention program, which involved 33 Holmes County Area students, male and female, ages 9-16.

The students who participated received 30 hours of abstinence training.

The Community Students Learning Center continued its teen pregnancy prevention program for the Fall of 2012, using the “Sex Can Wait” curriculum.

Students, ages 9-18, attend sessions twice a month at the Community Students Learning Center, receiving accurate information about sex and participating in rap sessions, giving them a forum to discuss teen issues.

During the 2013 CSLC Summer Program, the DREAM program offered abstinence sessions to participants, ages 10-18. These participants were also a part of the production of a play about the woes of teen pregnancy, “It Can Wait”.

Six DREAM participants were invited to become a part of the Governor’s Youth Advisory Council for the Governor’s “Healthy Teens for a Better Mississippi” Initiative. These teens attend meetings in the Jackson area and help make important decisions and offer input on Mississippi’s fight against teen pregnancy.

The advisory council members will be attending a back-to-school campaign in Jackson.