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Empowering Youth Today (EYT)
Program Overview
Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) focuses on the following:
- Promoting personal responsibility, self-regulation, goal setting, and healthy decision-making
- Supporting youth in developing a positive future orientation
- Explaining the potential benefits of delaying sexual activity, including improved physical and emotional health outcomes
- Highlighting the connection between self-sufficiency, emotional maturity, and long-term stability
- Teaching the key components of healthy relationships and how they contribute to safe and stable families
- Explaining how other risk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use, can increase the likelihood of sexual risk-taking
- Providing strategies to resist and avoid sexual coercion and dating violence
- Encouraging youth to seek help and support when faced with unsafe or uncomfortable situations
Purpose
The purpose of the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Empowering Youth Today (EYT) Program is to fund projects that provide education to youth on making healthy decisions.
The program teaches participants to delay sexual activity and understand the benefits of doing so.
EYT also provides education on:
- Self-regulation and personal responsibility
- Goal setting and planning for the future
- Healthy relationships
- Success sequencing for reducing the risk of poverty
- Recognizing and resisting sexual coercion and dating violence
- Avoiding risky behaviors, including underage drinking and illicit drug use
The program presents this information without encouraging or normalizing teen sexual activity.
Funding
The Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Program is funded under Section 1110 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1310). Additional funding is provided through the General Departmental Management appropriation for the Office of the Secretary, as outlined in Division H, Title II of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (Public Law 114-113).
Empowering Youth Today (EYT) funding is supported by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
Program Implementation
Curricula
Approved curricula include:
- Choosing the Best (all versions)
- Real Essentials (Starting Point & Advanced)
Minimum Program Requirements
Each funded agency must:
- Serve at least 350 unduplicated youth
- Include at least 100 youth in community service-learning activities
Professional Development
Required training includes:
- Annual EYT Training held in June
- Youth development and adolescent health training held in winter or spring
Target Population
- Youth in Michigan
- Ages 10–15
Funding Overview
- Approximately $1.8 million is allocated annually to MDHHS
- Approximately $1.4 million is distributed to grantees
- Each grantee receives $150,000
- Grantees must provide a 25% local match
Evaluation
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with the Michigan Public Health Institute’s Center for Healthy Communities (MPHI CHC) to lead the evaluation of the Empowering Youth Today (EYT) project.
Funded agencies are required to collect the following information:
- Entry and exit surveys
- Cohort data
- Youth participant data
- Community service-learning project data