Associate Commissioner of U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Observes4-H TGIF Program in Elmore County

Harry Wilson, associate commissioner with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau recently observed a 4-H TGIF (Teens Getting Involved for the Future) program in Elmore County.

4-H TGIF is based on the Managing Pressures Before Marriage curriculum, which focuses on helping young people develop skills to resist sexual activity before marriage. Sixth- grade students are targeted as program participants and 11th- and 12th-grade students serve as teen leaders. Teen leaders receive about 30 hours of training before they begin teaching the younger students.

4-H TGIF programs are in all five Elmore County public middle schools and at Edgewood Academy.

During the 2004-2005 school year, the program was presented to 909 sixth-grade students by 81 trained high school teen leaders. Extension agent assistants Jane Allen and Barbara Haisten implement the Elmore County program and serve as coaches for the teen leaders.

Wilson came to Alabama at the invitation of the Alabama Coalition for Abstinence Education. The Elmore County 4-H TGIF program was the closest abstinence program in proximity to Montgomery so program planners picked it for Wilson to observe. Wilson, Terry Watkins, project director with the AIM Project in Troy, and Mary Palo with the Hive Creative Group in Dothan, attended a 4-H TGIF class session at Edgewood Academy in Elmore, Ala.

Wilson observed teen leaders, Jim Plaster, Kayla Dandridge and Brooke Slaughter teach techniques to resist pressure to be sexually active before marriage.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at February 20, 2006 05:40 PM | TrackBack