Abstinence Funding Returns

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Abstinence Funding Returns

Special Report - May 28, 2010
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released some preliminary information on the partial restoration of Title V abstinence education funding, which was reauthorized for the next five years under a provision in the newly enacted health care reform law. As we previously reported, the provision to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 restored a total of $250 million in federal funding over the next five years for sex education programs that exclusively teach teens to abstain from sexual activity until marriage. Under the provision, states will have access to $50 million per year from 2010 to 2014 through the Title V program.

The Title V funds have not yet been released to the states, however, the HHS has posted information about the funding stream on its web site. According to that announcement, the Title V funds will be distributed to states by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Family and Youth Services Bureau. The ACF is currently accepting applications from states, and information about the applications will be posted on the HHS web site in June. The estimated application deadline for new state applications for the funding is August 2010.

According to the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), the governor of each state must first approve a request for the Title V funds before the funding can be released to individual states and distributed to local communities for abstinence-centered education. The NAEA is urging the citizens of each state to contact their governors and “urge them to accept the Title V funds and quickly distribute funds” to local community-based organizations that teach abstinence education.

Take action! Contact Governor Beverly Purdue’s office, and urge her to accept Title V Abstinence Education Funds for North Carolina. If you send an email, include the link the HHS funding announcement page on the Title V funds. Be sure to emphasize that North Carolina law still mandates the teaching of abstinence from sexual activity until marriage as the expected standard of behavior for all school-aged children, and that federal Title V funding will help schools carry out this mandate.

For more information on the requirements of North Carolina regarding sex education, download our issue brief here.

To contact Governor Perdue’s office by phone, call (800) 662-7952 or (919) 733-2391. You can email the governor at: governor.office@nc.gov.