We are excited to release the latest version of our publication, SIECUS State Profiles: A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the States, Fiscal Year 2012 Edition. For ten years, SIECUS has “followed the money” to provide educators, advocates, and policymakers with an annual snapshot of how federal funding is impacting sexuality education across the country. This is the third year that the profiles not only look at funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, but also track federal funding streams that support evidence-informed teen pregnancy-, HIV/AIDS-, and other STD- prevention programs. The profiles also look at laws and policies that dictate how schools approach sexuality education. For the first time, the publication also includes a State Profile At A Glance for each state, providing a snapshot view of adolescent sexual health education state policies, data, and federal funding.

Our research found that many states and communities benefited from the federal funding streams designed to support evidence-informed prevention programs. These funding streams received a total of $188.5 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 which supported numerous programs across the country. Specifically:

• The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) funded 94 grantees in 35 states and the District of Columbia.
• The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) funded state/territory health departments in 45 states, the District of Columbia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
  • The Personal Responsibility Education Program Innovative Strategies (PREIS) funded 13 grantees in 12 states.
  • The Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program (TPREP) funded 16 grantees in nine states.
  • The Competitive Personal Responsibility Education Program (CPREP) funded 37 community- or faith-based organizations in the five states that did not directly apply for PREP funds—Florida, Indiana, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia—as well as American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Unfortunately, abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) programs were also funded, with $50 million allocated to the Title V AOUM program and $5 million in discretionary funding going toward a new Competitive Abstinence Education (CAE) funding stream. This funding is tied to the federal government’s restrictive A–H definition of “abstinence education.” In FY 2012:

• The Title V AOUM program funded 36 states, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Puerto Rico.
• CAE provided funds to nine community- and faith-based organizations in eight states.

Though much progress has been made since we started tracking federal funding a decade ago, we were disheartened to see the reemergence of a discretionary AOUM program and some backtracking of states that had once refused Title V AOUM funding deciding to accept it again in FY 2012.

SIECUS believes that the information included in this latest edition of the State Profiles will help advocates learn from each other, understand best practices, recognize successful models, and ultimately strengthen both policies and programs in their states and communities with an eye toward expanding comprehensive sexuality education to all students.

We hope that you find this publication both informative and inspiring.

Visit www.siecus.org/stateprofiles2012 to access the SIECUS State Profiles: A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the States, Fiscal Year 2012 Edition.

Please contact Kelsey Van Nice at [email protected] with any questions or for more information.