Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 1, 1992 TAG: 9202280065
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Decision-making workshops with teens at Lincoln Terrace housing development. The "I Don't Fool Around" program pushed by Planned Parenthood through the Better Beginnings Coalition.
"A lot of it is pregnancy prevention - stressing abstinence," says White, community resources coordinator for the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority. "They're not just `the abortion people.' They want to stop it before it ever gets to that phase."
Indeed, 90 percent of what the family-planning center does rarely gets in the headlines. As director Kathy Haynie says, "It's hard work with people who need help and who count on us to represent their interests."
That's one reason the Rev. Edward Burton of the Sweet Union Baptist Church has been such a big supporter, serving on the Planned Parenthood board for a year - even though, as he says, "I'm not pro-abortion."
Burton's Northwest Roanoke congregation was one of 19 to participate in the "I Don't Fool Around" program, in which church youth-group leaders were trained to counsel youngsters on abstinence.
Afterward, his church group held a retreat for teens in December to discuss the issues. More than 30 attended.
"The people who are pro-abortion are going to be pro-abortion, and those who aren't are not going to be," Burton says. "The fact is that Planned Parenthood goes on doing its good work regardless. And I don't think you can throw the whole thing out just because of that advocacy."
Of its 33-member staff, two people handle most of the educational programming: director of education Jeanie Seay and educator Janet McDowell, a Ph.D. ethicist who specializes in theology.
Here are some of the programs they participate in or coordinate:
\ Project Hope at Hurt Park - A community-based program that falls under the umbrella of the Roanoke Valley Better Beginnings teen-pregnancy coalition. Seay and White of the Housing Authority had their first meeting last week; 10 teens came.
A 13-week sex-education program, Project Hope guarantees summer employment through Total Action Against Poverty to teens who successfully complete the program. The first pregnancy-prevention program of its kind in Virginia, the Hurt Park program will be used as a model for future programs in valley neighborhoods, Seay says.
\ The School for Pregnant Teens - Planned Parenthood staffers teach sex education, self-esteem and practical life skills twice a month to the students in this Roanoke City Schools program.
\ One-shot programs - on everything from the new Norplant birth-control device to how to talk to your children about sex. Staffers lecture at area colleges, schools, churches and agencies. Last week, Seay spoke to a group of 40 women from area treatment and transitional-living centers on AIDS as part of a YWCA program; McDowell held a similar workshop for teens on dating violence.
\ "I Don't Fool Around" church-based program - Staffers train church youth-group leaders on how to encourage middle-schoolers to abstain from sex. Participants come from a variety of religious backgrounds.
\ Professional training for family-life educators - Staffers do formal training for Roanoke City School sex-ed teachers; informal training with teachers and counselors from other area schools. Subjects include: child sexual abuse, sexual attraction, birth control, date rape, gender identification and homophobia. Staffers also train the volunteers who man the teen hot-line at Trust.
\ Women in Need Fund - offers no-interest loans and grants for women who can't afford costly procedures such as Norplant implants or colposcopy biopsies for abnormal pap smears. Eligibility requirements are based on income.
\ Resources and information - including a $60,000 library of materials spanning all aspects of sexuality. Staffers help students find information for term papers, counsel families and answer questions from the public.
"Basically we have to stay up on everything," Seay says. "We get questions like `Why is the teen-pregnancy rate so high?' And my answer is, do you have a week?"
by CNB