Project R.A.P. (Responsible Adolescent Parenting)
Linda Roach, Interim Director
Tennessee Department of Children's Services
170 N. Main St.
Memphis, Tenn. 38103
(901) 543-6852

A dozen young women -- hardly more than little girls, really -- cluster in a circle around instructor Derek Gasque at Memphis’s inner-city Vance Middle School. Bright and intent, they clearly mean every word as in perfect unison they recite the Project R.A.P. creed: “I am somebody. I am responsible for my behavior ... and for what I become in life ... I am somebody, I am unique. There never has been and never will be another person exactly like me .. I will not quit ... I will keep on striving ... I will do my best ... I am a winner ... I am somebody.”

Still of an age to be playing with dolls and appearing much too young to be potential parents, these sixth-graders nevertheless are at dangerous risk of early, unplanned parenthood, as low-income, inner-city girls living in a community with one of the world’s highest rates of teen pregnancy. In 1994, nearly 3,000 infants were born to mothers under 20, and of total births to teenagers, almost 95 percent were out of wedlock. Moreover, the harsh statistics show that 30 percent of teenagers giving birth will be pregnant again within a year.

Project R.A.P. is an innovative effort to do something about that, and in its 11-year history, it is already showing significant evidence of success. Winner of the Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award for 1996, this small organization gets a lot done “on a shoestring,” as acting director Linda Roach says. An unusual partnership, it is a 501(c)3 organization within state government; its staff of seven are paid state employees in the Department of Children’s Services, and the state provides office space and related expenses; but the organization operates as a non-profit with an independent board of directors drawn from the community, and it looks to grants and awards for program activities.

Its goal is simple, Roach said: To reduce the rate of second pregnancies among Memphis teenagers by helping young women at risk become more self-sufficient -- specifically, staying in school and completing their education. Project R.A.P. also addresses the issues of low birth weight and child abuse and neglect, again through a process of focused instruction, education and self-esteem-building.

Founded by the state in 1986 as a demonstration project, Project R.A.P. invented itself as it went along. Currently, during the school year, project staff go into schools, community centers and libraries to meet with youngsters -- including teen mothers and pregnant girls as well as, in separate groups, younger girls considered at risk of pregnancy and young men.

A total of seven groups involving 150 youngsters are meeting weekly throughout the school year this year; during the summer, the program turns its focus to young people in foster care. Topics range from self-esteem and problem-solving to health care and nutrition, and on to the dangers of drugs, crime and delinquency. There’s plenty of enrichment activity such as trips to the zoo and cultural events; a group of lucky youngsters -- chosen on the basis of grades and other merit -- will be treated to a trip to the state capitol in Nashville later this school year, financed by part of WHY’s Chapin award.

Dozens of success stories demonstrate that the program works, Roach said, as do statistics measuring its specific objectives. Project R.A.P. participants do stay in school; data shows no low-birthweight babies among pregnant girls who’ve taken part in the program; only 10 percent of younger girls in the “preventive” program have later become single mothers, and only 10 percent of participants in the pregnancy program have become pregnant again.

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.

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