Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407280085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The task force subcommittee, led by Dr. Molly Rutledge, acting Roanoke Health Department director, has been charged with deciding how best to use the $150,000 plus four staff positions targeted toward Roanoke's teen-pregnancy rate, the highest in the state.
The subcommittee's actions weren't discussed at Wednesday's task force meeting. In fact, what the subcommittee plans to propose to the state within the next two months will not be reviewed, approved or disapproved by the 20-member communitywide group, according to Rutledge and Glenn Radcliffe, city director of human development.
"In effect, the subcommittee has more power than the task force, because it's the subcommittee that's deciding on the distribution of this money," said Janet McDowell, a subcommittee member who attended Wednesday's task force meeting.
"If I didn't personally know people on the subcommittee, I wouldn't even know about it," Planned Parenthood outreach worker and task force member Anthony Drakeford said after the task force meeting, the group's fourth.
"That's crazy," added Roanoke businessman and task force member Howard Packett, referring to the situation. "There needs to be continuity."
"I know nothing of what's going on with the subcommittee," said task force co-chairwoman Debbie Henderson, a social worker.
A newspaper reporter sitting in on the subcommittee's last meeting, held earlier this month, was asked to leave 10 minutes into the meeting, during which proposals for spending the money were discussed. Rutledge said later the group asked the reporter to leave because it feared a story might mislead the public into believing the discussions were actual recommendations.
She also acknowledged fearing arguments between subcommittee members representing the anti-abortion group, Crisis Pregnancy Center, and Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, which supports abortion rights. Apparently, the two members did not argue as predicted, she said.
The subcommittee has decided to target the city's teen-male population, beefing up such programs as "For Males Only," which teaches decision-making skills to at-risk males, Rutledge said. She also said the subcommittee agreed during its last meeting on a goal: "to prevent teen pregnancy."
One other strategy the subcommittee agreed to undertake is expanding neighborhood prevention programs already in place. Funding possibilities include the Roanoke Adolescent Health Project's school-based clinics, the Project Hope recreation and self-esteem program at Landsdowne and Hurt Park housing developments, and the West End Community Center, according to McDowell.
At Wednesday's task force meeting, city training coordinator Celia Denning gave an overview of the task force process, suggesting ways to organize and set goals, as well as how to define and research a problem.
Representatives from Virginia Tech's College of Human Resources outlined prevention programs in other cities, including Baltimore; Columbia, S.C.; and Savannah, Ga. The Tech researchers and Roanoke's Better Beginnings Coalition agreed to join forces to evaluate Roanoke's current teen-pregnancy prevention programs with the goal of identifying gaps in services.
Howard Packett said he would examine why the Maryland-based Campaign For Our Children has only been sporadically implemented in Roanoke. The abstinence-based media campaign, purchased by Virginia with a $250,000 grant from the Virginia Hospital Association, was supposed to have included TV ads with a local telephone number for teens to call with questions, family-life education lesson plans, posters, billboards and brochures.
So far, TV ads from the campaign have aired on some local stations, but a local number has not been supplied, nor have many of the other materials been sent by the state.
"The problem here is we don't have enough money. It would take $100,000 to $200,000 to do it right just in Roanoke, and over $1 million to do it statewide," Packett said. The Maryland campaign has been instrumental in reducing that state's teen-pregnancy rate by 7 percent in two years, he added.
Previous task force meetings have included presentations by Virginia Tech researchers on at-risk behaviors and an overview of the at-risk population by some of the social workers and educators who work with it.
"It's frustrating, because you've got to get the whole group up to speed before you can do anything," Henderson said. "If nothing else, I'd like the city to take a firm stand and say premarital sex is wrong, then back people up - back up the schools, support the teen moms, beef up the school-based clinics, give power back to the parents."
"They're starting to nibble at the edge of the problem," McDowell added. "But they need to get a clearly defined process in place."
by CNB