CLEVELAND, Tenn. - All federal funding for the One Life, One Choice abstinence program has been cut, and program officials are scrambling for money.
"This program is in danger," director Patrick Long said. "If we don't raise the money this year, then this program will look very, very different next year, if it's here at all."
The program has helped reduce the teen pregnancy rate in Bradley County by 12 percent since it started in 1997, Mr. Long said.
Mr. Long and other staff members are joining with students and schools to host a concert fundraiser at 7 p.m. Friday at Lake Forest Middle School. Show choirs from Lake Forest and Cleveland High School have confirmed that they will perform, officials said.
"We're reaching out to the community for help," said Reese Goodwin, director of youth outreach for One Life, One Choice.
The goal is to raise $10,000 from the concert, Mr. Long said, but $53,000 is needed by the end of the year.
One Life, One Choice reaches 5,000 students in grades six through 12 every year, officials said.
"Students treat our staff like rock stars," Mr. Long said. "Everyone knows their names."
He said federal funding for One Life, One Choice's community-based abstinence education grant was sliced out of the budget this year. The grant was only two years into its five-year cycle, he said.
One Life, One Choice uses two curriculums.
Life Lessons is an abstinence-centered education program that lasts four to five days and is designed to decrease sexual activity and linked risk behaviors. It also sharpens critical thinking, helps students set boundaries and develop refusal skills, according to a One Life brochure.
IF YOU GOWhat: One Life, One Choice concert fundraiserWhen: 7 p.m. March 26Where: Lake Forest Middle School, 610 Kile Lake Road, Cleveland, TN 37323Admission $10ONE LIFE, ONE CHOICEFor more information, visit www.1life-1choice.org or call the New Hope Pregnancy Center at 479-6683.
Life Group is a 16-week program in which students talk about their concerns while working on a community project. One project was making encouragement boxes for women with breast cancer. Another was creating a No Fight initiative at an area school, offering students T-shirts and a party if they go a month without fighting.
"It (Life Group) helps everyone be able to get their anger out in the group, and we work through it there," said Bradley Central High School student and participant Tiffany Ledford. "We all try to pitch in and help them understand the source of a problem without it getting bigger."
The federal funding cut has a positive side, officials said, because it's getting program officials out into the community more.
"Before, we didn't have to talk to families because we knew we had a consistent income," Mr. Long said. "Now we have to get out and let people know who we are and what we do."
Laura Gilbert, owner of Gilbert's Collision Center in Bradley County, said she made mistakes throughout her childhood and wishes someone had talked with her. She volunteers with One Life to speak with middle and high school children about abstinence.
"Sometimes ninth graders don't think far beyond ninth grade," she said. "They don't see how some actions they take then could affect them for the rest of their lives."