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The Children's Aid Society (CAS) began offering sex education workshops
for teens, parents and staff at four centers (Dunlevy Milbank, East
Harlem, Frederick Douglass and Rhinelander) in 1970, but found sex
education alone wasn't
enough to effectively influence the behavior of teens. The youth would
participate in workshops about sexuality, sex education and family
life and have access
to reproductive health service, but then leave the centers for their
home neighborhoods, where the messages of sexual responsibility that they had
heard about
became quickly
diluted.
In the early 1980s, CAS Executive Director Phil Coltoff and Associate Executive
Director Pete Moses began working with Dr. Carrera to develop a
new approach, one that would help young people develop not only the capacity to
avoid mistakes, but also the desire to do so. It was conceived as a seven-days-a-week
program with a strong parent component. The CAS debut of this new approach took
place in 1984, with 27 young people and a few parents. By 1990 the agency had expanded
the
programs to three centers,
increasing the number of teens reached tenfold.
That same year, CAS was able to open the Bernice & Milton Stern National
Adolescent Sexuality Training Center. Soon after, Dr. Carrera and CAS staff began
training other organizations outside of New York City to replicate the model.
The first national training was held in 1990 and 1991. This effort was supported
by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which continues to support national replication
of the CAS Carrera Model. Shortly thereafter, the Robin Hood Foundation offered
support to train New York City agencies other than CAS affiliates. The Robin
Hood Foundation continues to be a supporter of all New York City replications.
The
CAS Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program is currently being replicated
at 20 sites around the country, along with 30 other program variations.
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