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TANF Section, WIOA Combined Plan Modifications 2026

39 Brighter Futures supports positive youth development and prevention programs in high-risk communities and high-poverty neighborhoods. Programs serve infants, children, youth, and families, and focus on increasing adolescent functioning by encouraging high school graduation, vocational preparedness, improved social and other interpersonal skills, and responsible decision-making. The agencies establish their goals and performance metrics based on the evidence-based curriculum and strategies utilized in the program.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), in coordination with DPI and DCF, have long standing collaborations to promote healthy adolescent development and provide access to confidential contraceptive and related reproductive health information and services. The 2023- 2027 Wisconsin State Health Improvement Plan takes an upstream approach in addressing reproductive and sexual health for all Wisconsinites, including youth. Related priority areas in the plan include supportive systems of care, physical and mental safety, person and community centered health care, and mental and emotional health and well-being. In addition to these priority areas, DHS remains committed to promoting and improving sexual health and reproductive justice across the life span and reducing disparities in reproductive and sexual health outcomes including sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended teen pregnancies. Wisconsin measures and tracks these outcomes through HIV and STI surveillance systems, birth rate data for teens ages 15-19, and through Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data.

The Family Health Section, in the Bureau of Community Health Promotion within the Division of Public Health at DHS manages several programs that contribute to promoting positive youth development, reducing STIs, and reducing unintended teen pregnancies. These programs include but are not limited to the Reproductive Health and Family Planning Program, the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Program, and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program. The latter three programs include education interventions directed at preventing and reducing the incidence of unintended teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among youth.

The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) implements educational programming for youth ages 10-19 on both abstinence and contraception for preventing unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases using a Positive Youth Development framework. Partners implement evidence-based or evidence-informed programs that have been shown to effect changes in behavior. The program serves middle school and high school-aged youth, specifically those who are homeless, in foster care, live in rural areas or in geographic areas with high teen birth rates, or come from racial or ethnic minority groups. Programming includes positive adolescent development, healthy relationships, and healthy life skills, including learning about health care rights and responsibilities.

The Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) program implements evidence-based education that teaches youth the benefits of refraining from sexual activity and making informed decisions about their health. The program helps youth navigate life decisions by teaching personal responsibility, self-regulation, goal setting, emotional regulation, building empathy, healthy decision-making, a focus on the future, and the prevention of youth risky behaviors such as drug and alcohol use. SRAE uses a Positive Youth Development framework and collaborates with partners to implement the Teen Outreach Program (TOP), which is designed to build educational success, life and leadership skills, and healthy behaviors and relationships.