Teen Pregnancy Prevention

Teen birth rates for girls 15 to 17 years old have dropped 65% in Milwaukee since 2006, when one out of every 20 girls gave birth to a child. In 2008, the goal was to reduce teen birth rates by 46% by 2015 – it was considered one of the most ambitious goals ever set in the nation.The initiative’s success is attributed to an all-hands-on-deck approach adopted by the community, which has been honored nationally as a model for other cities. We continue to see sustained progress in reducing the teen birth rate. 

This work has been recognized by United Way Worldwide, Mutual of America and the White House Council for Community Solutions and was included in a report on successful community collaborations to President Barack Obama.

Why

Teen pregnancy profoundly, and in most cases negatively, affects the lives of those involved while costing the community millions of dollars through direct care, ancillary services, and the overall drain on the workforce. Most alarming is the connection between Milwaukee's teen pregnancy epidemic and vicious, cyclical poverty.

Between 2006 and 2020, the Greater Milwaukee community invested significant resources to aggressively combat what was then one of the worst teen birth rates in the nation. United Way convened a communitywide collaborative to bring the issue to the forefront of public attention and change the historically high rate of teen births.

How

To address teen pregnancy, United Way:

• Brought together representatives from business, government, education, the medical field, the faith community, law enforcement and other nonprofits to create a focused, cumulative effort.
• Devoped and maintained BabyCanWait.com to provide a resource of medically accurate age-appropriate information on preventing pregnancy and promoting healthy relationships for youth. 
• Encouraged parents/guardians to talk to the youth in their lives by distributing the Family Communication Toolkit, available free of charge in English and Spanish.
• Worked with Serve Marketing to develop a robust public awareness campaign (see below for more information on Community Media Efforts).
• Released the 5-year progress report If Truth Be Told in May, 2011.
• Continues to invest in programs to educate youth about teen pregnancy prevention and teach skills needed to cope with social pressures, with the goal of delaying sexual activity and avoiding pregnancy.