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STATE OF CONNECTICUT TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES (TANF) STATE PLAN 2024-2026

Effective Date: 10/1/23 – 9/30/26 ☐ Initial Submission Date: 12/31/2023 ☒ Revision Date: 04/15/2024 Page: 39

TEEN-PREGNANCY PREVENTION – SECTION A –PART V

Sec. 402(a)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act

(v) – The Teen-Pregnancy Prevention part describes how the state intends to establish goals and take action to prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies, with special emphasis on teenage pregnancies.

The Department of Social Services (DSS) operates a statewide teen pregnancy prevention initiative comprised of individual programs run by not-for profit organizations and municipalities in eleven (11) Connecticut towns and cities. The communities served are Bridgeport, East Hartford, Hartford, Killingly, Meriden, New Britain, New Haven, New London, Norwich, Waterbury, and Willimantic. The programs in these areas serve five-hundred fifty (550) participants.

The implemented programs use the Teen Outreach Program (TOP), a service- learning model, where participants engage in, reflect on, and learn from community service projects. TOP is a science- based model that has been evaluated and has shown evidence that it is among the most effective approaches to preventing teen pregnancies.

The teen pregnancy prevention initiative funds primarily support the individual programs, but also cover independent research and evaluation with Philliber Research Associates (PRA), statistical analysis (UConn Family Planning Division), and training from Wyman Associates who owns the Teen Outreach Service-Learning program. Teen-pregnancy prevention programs funded by DSS work intensively with young men as well as young women to address issues of health, education, and other life issues.