With teen pregnancy rates on the rise in Alexandria’s Hispanic community, we couldn’t help but wonder: what is the city doing to address teen pregnancy trends?
The City of Alexandria just released its annual Report Card on Sex Ed for All — providing an update on the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy (ACAP) and other programs that aim to ensure “young people have complete and culturally appropriate sexual health information at age-appropriate levels and access to sexual and reproductive health care services.”
The report includes a graph with teen pregnancy rates between 2018 and 2022. The data shows, since 2020, teen pregnancy rates have fallen among Alexandria’s Black teens, but risen slightly among white teens and increased dramatically for Hispanic teens.
“Hispanic youth are 6.83 times more likely to become pregnant than White youth,” the report said.
The report says 45,674 condoms have been dispensed in Alexandria. For the remainder of the year, ACAP is looking to increase the number of condom dispensers around Alexandria, specifically to “include locations where youth frequent.” ACAP is also seeking grant aid to work with an additional community partner over the next three years.
The report outlined progress on the city’s sex education programs, including what work is underway in Alexandria City Public Schools. According to the report, ACAP is in the process of:
- Advocating at local and state levels for policies that improve student access to comprehensive sexual health education
- Implement ACAP’s Latino Outreach Plan to improve prevention messaging and information to Latino community
- Expanding condom dispensers at additional community sites where disproportionately impacted groups reside, work and attend school
- Identifying opportunities to provide prevention info/resources to newly arrived students and families completing enrollment within ACPS
