Plain Talk Starts at G-CAPP 

The G-CAPP El Puente/Gainesville office is proud to announce the launch of the Plain Talk program. The program is a neighborhood-based initiative aimed at helping adults, parents and community leaders develop the skills and tools they need to communicate effectively with young people about reducing adolescent sexual risk-taking.

The program begins with volunteers surveying their own community about attitudes, beliefs and behaviors regarding adolescent issues. The results of the survey are compiled and presented back to the community, with the following objectives:

• To create a consensus among parents and adults about the need to protect sexually active youth through encouraging early and consistent use of contraceptive
• To give parents and other community adults the information and skills they need to communicate more effectively with teens about responsible sexual behavior; and
• To improve adolescent access to quality, age-appropriate and readily available reproductive health care, including contraception. 

From the volunteers, "Walkers and Talkers" are hired to conduct home health parties in the community. The goal of the home health parties is to recruit "Askable Adults" which will increase the accuracy and frequency of adult/teen communication about adolescent health issues.

The ultimate goal of Plain Talk is to help community adults and parents facilitate conversations with youth regarding at-risk behaviors.

 

Fourteen volunteers in Gainesville have been recruited and trained. The surveying will begin in July at the Melrose Apartments and the Atlanta Street Apartments.

 

The program is especially significant in Gainesville:

• The teenage birth rate among females in Gainesville ages 15-19 is 78.9 per 1,000. This is significantly higher than the state and national rates of 55.6 and 43 per 1,000, respectively. With a subsequent teen birth rate of 21%, one in five teen mothers in Hall County will have a second birth.
• The Hall County region ranks near the bottom in the state in terms of school absenteeism and teenage mothers who lack high school completion. For youth ages 16-19 not in school and not working, this area ranks worst in the state.

The program and some of its participants were recently featured on WNEG-TV News Channel 32. To view the story click here.

For more information on Plain Talk, please call our Gainesville office at 770-297-7755.