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Reduce Adolescent Pregnancy Partnership (RAPP) Coalition Homepage
Serving Douglas County, Oregon



Project Background

The Douglas County RAPP Coalition consists of a core group of community members, educators, health care professionals, law enforcement officials and representatives from various religious organizations. The mission of the RAPP Coalition is to work together through community partnership to provide services for teens that help reduce adolescent pregnancy rates. In recent RAPP meetings, the coalition has discussed where services for teens were being met in the local community. One area of concern in which the coalition has decided to be more proactive is in targeting males for teen pregnancy prevention.


Acccording to a recent study by the Urban Institute, for many years reproductive policy in the United States concentrated almost singly on women. As the Urban Institute study futher stated,
"Why males were ever excluded from the way we think about pregnancy prevention is puzzling. Sexual behavior involves two partners, and decisions to have sex and to use contraception undoubtedly reflect both partners perspective, whether explicitly or implicitly. Yet fertility and family are traditionally ascribed to the world of females -- a perspective that has kept us from acknowledging what should have been obvious -- that males must be involved in any policy solution to unintended pregancies among teenagers."
The Douglas County RAPP Coalition has recognized the need for a male-involvement teen pregnancy prevention program in our county as well. After evaluating many different programs that currently exist around the United States, as well as sending coalition members to workshops and conferences on male involvement teen pregnancy prevention programs, the Douglas County RAPP coalition has begun an effort to create its own project in this area.

The Pilot Program

 Using a developmental asset building model as its philosophy , the project will use a two-pronged approach of integrating recreational activities with educational workshops. From our research on other similiar programs, those that were activity based were the most effective in reaching teen males. The pilot project will include not only the resource and support of the Douglas County RAPP Coalition members, but a partnership with the Central Douglas County YMCA and Phoenix School, an alternative education school located in Roseburg. The program will provide teen males with an opportunity to participate in a diverse number of activities at the YMCA, as well as attend workshops that will build the assets needed to make an individual less likely to participate in high risk behavior. For example these assets include such things as; self-esteem, a positive view of the future, planning skills, decision making skills, assertiveness skills, sexual responsibility, values helping people, edcuational aspirations, achievement motivation, positive peer influence and adult communication.


Organizational Structure

The project will be overseen by the existing RAPP Coalition chaired by a member of the Douglas County Health Department. Phoenix School and the YMCA will work in a partnership with this coalition. Subcomittees within the coalition will work under the guidance of the entire coalition.


Outcomes and Objective

The outcomes and objectives of the Douglas County RAPP Coalition's Male Involvement Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program are as follows:
  • The project will help the RAPP Coalition achieve its mission and goals for providing services to teen and reducing adolescent pregnancy through a community partnership.
  • The project will build on the existing RAPP Coalition.
  • The project will seek to create new community partnerships between schools and social service agencies and organizations.
  • The project will develop a plan for sustaining itself for an extended period of time.
  • The project will support the goals and mission of the Oregon Department of Human Services.
  • the project will use the RAPP Coalition members as the local steering committee to oversee the project.


Click below for more Douglas County RAPP Information.
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Upcoming RAPP related events, workshops and links!
$10,000 Annie Casey Grant!


Email: mrkurtz@co.douglas.or.us