Project UNITE (Uncovering New Initiatives for Teen Empowerment) - Expansion

Project UNITE, used a coalition-driven systematic approach to address rural teen pregnancy, beginning in Lawrence County in June 2019. Project UNITE expanded to Orange County by engaging the rural community in a process to better understand the local context and factors that contribute to high teen pregnancy and birth rates, and to provide the tools and plans necessary to successfully implement a multi-level intervention. Rural counties are particularly important to target for teen pregnancy prevention as the teen birth rate in rural counties is nearly one-third higher as compared to rates in the rest of the United States. As of 2019, Orange County was among the highest of the Indiana counties in teen pregnancy and teen birth rates with 43.5 births per 1,000 females, ages 15-19 years old as compared to 22.8 in Indiana, and 18.8 in the U.S. (Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Center, 2019).