The purpose of this program is to dramatically affect the decisions youth ages 12 – 18 make when it comes to sexual activity. In 2004,
Philadelphia teens (13-19) were responsible for 26% of all births to Pennsylvanian women (
PA Department of Health Statistics). Moreover, in 2005, Philadelphia males ages 13-24 comprised 46.5% of all
reported cases of Chlamydia infections and 49.7% of all
reported Gonorrhea infections for the entire state of Pennsylvania (
PA Department of Health, Sexually Transmitted Diseases report, 2005). Children raised in the City of Philadelphia face a web of interconnected youth risk behaviors that make the probability of healthy transition from birth to adulthood a challenging proposition. Thanks to funding provided by US Department of Health and Human services we provide our youth with information to make an informed decision as it relates to sexual activity. We provide another voice that is an alternative to the music, advertisement and misinformation they receive on a daily basis.
In partnership with Urban Family Council (
www.urbanfamilycouncil.org) we promote abstinence until marriage. We seek to encourage youth to delay sexual activity until marriage which will increase the likelihood of healthier young people, marriages, and families in our community. Our goal is to impact at least 15% or more of Philadelphia’s youth population with the message of delaying sexual activity. In order to accomplish this we have gone into middle and high schools, as well as youth organizations and churches to teach abstinence until marriage via the WAIT (Why Am I Tempted) training curriculum
www.waittraining.org. Some of the middle schools include Hill Freedman, Leeds and Wilson, etc. Some of the high schools include Olney, Simon Gratz, Bartram, and Kensington, etc.
For more information or to have a seminar conducted at your school, youth organization or church group please contact Frank Robinson at (215) 235-2340 or frobinson@peopleforpeople.org.
The Employment, Advancement and Retention Network (EARN) program is jointly operated by the Pennsylvania Departments of Public Welfare (DPW) and People for People in order to address the needs of welfare client with barriers to employment. PFP was designated as an Earn Center in 2006. The EARN Program consists of two components which are the Career Development Component (CDC) and the Work Support Component (WSC).
- The CDC design focuses mainly on federally mandated core activities such as unsubsidized employment, subsidized employment, on-the-job training, work experience, community service providing child care services to individuals in community service, job search, job readiness and vocational skills training.
- The allowable activities provided in the WSC design are job search and job readiness assistance, subsidized employment and unsubsidized employment.
Since it is crucial that DPW achieve the federally mandated work participation requirement, PFP share responsibility for ensuring the most efficient use of public funds in determining what services will be offered to maintain client’s active participation in the allowable core activities.
The PFP advantage is that we are able to enhance our customer’s experience by providing more complete personal evaluation of skill levels, access to our Career Clothes Closets to provide necessary clothing for potential jobs; and on-the job training at one of our auxiliary programs, among other activities.
What Can Be Done to Help Children Missing A Parent in Their Lives?
There are millions of children in this country who suffer the pain and loneliness associated with missing one of their parents for a variety of reasons, including incarceration, divorce, abandonment, estrangement, death or lack of knowledge concerning paternity. Research demonstrates that children who grow up without one or the other parent figure in their lives experience a less emotionally-rich and nurturing a childhood as children have living with two parents, which means less help with homework, less one-on-one time with the remaining parent and thus less guidance and help with problems or time spent together sharing enriching experiences. Our Mentoring Children of Promise program is designed to match mentors with children who need them to help fill this need. Carefully screened applicants are paired with children with whom they will spend time each week in one of the best ways possible: helping a child to grow up with just a little more love and attention.
