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.