Abstinence Education Grants and Welfare Reform

Friday, June 6, 1997
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (EST)

The 1996 welfare reform bill contained a number of provisions designed to reduce the incidence of nonmarital births. This seminar addressed one such policy: the special grant program that allocates $50 billion per year for abstinence education. This first seminar sponsored by the University of Maryland Welfare Reform Academy, broadcast live to regional sites across the country with an opportunity to question the speakers, examined grant procedures and state compliance with the features of the abstinence education grant.

The following panels of experts addressed such questions as: Who can receive funding? What is an abstinence education program? What is known about the effects of such programs on behavior? Can an abstinence program be run in conjunction with other sex education or health education programs?

Introductory Paper: Ron Haskins and Carol Stutato Bevan. Abstinence Education Under Welfare Reform.

12:45 Registration and Check In

1:00 Conference

Panel 1: A Turnaround in Teen Sexual Activity

David D. Bellis, Senior Social Science Analyst, Health, Education, and Human Services Division, General Accounting Office Paper

Chritine A. Bachrach, Chief, Demographics and Behavioral Sciences Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Paper

Panel 2: Programs and Approaches

Barbara Devaney, Senior Fellow, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Paper

Deborah Klein Walker, President, Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs

Pat Funderburk Ware, Director of Educational Services, Americans for a Sound AIDS Policy Remarks

Sarah S. Brown, Director, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Paper

Presentation Elayne Bennett, Executive Director, Best Friends Foundation Paper

Panel 3: The New Federal Grant Program

Ruth E. Wasem, Specialist in Social Legislation, Congressional Research Service

Jodie Levin-Epstein, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Law and Social Policy Remarks

Moderator Douglas Besharov, Professor, University of Maryland School of Public Affairs; Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute