Multi-Million Dollar Grant to Help Prevent Teen Pregnancies

from Austin ISD

The Austin School District will implement a risk-reduction program to help prevent pregnancies with a $2.9 million grant awarded by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Adolescent Health.

The REAL Talk program for middle and high school students will provide teens with the instruction to ‘Know More/Know How’ to prevent unplanned pregnancies.  As grant collaborators, LifeWorks and Planned Parenthood of Texas Capital Region will provide education services to seventh and eighth grade students, and ninth and tenth grade students, respectively.

The US Department of Health and Human Services announced the award on Thursday, September 30.  The Austin School District, LifeWorks and Planned Parenthood submitted the application for the five-year award in May 2009.

In anticipation of receiving the grant, last Spring a group of Akins High School students, in collaboration with the University of Texas’ School of Public Health, developed the ‘Know More/Know How’ social media marketing campaign to raise awareness of the need to implement a student driven campaign about teen pregnancy prevention.  Teen pregnancy was one of two major student health issues identified by participants of a community conversation hosted by the District’s Health Services Department and the School Health Advisory Council in October 2009.  Unplanned pregnancies, along with childhood/adolescent obesity, were cited because of their long-term impact on student health, school attendance and academic performance.

District figures regarding teen pregnancy rates, supported community perception that too many young women were becoming mothers too soon.  Student Health Services data show that after a multi-year decline to 251 students identified as pregnant in 2006, the trend reversed.  Students identified as pregnant in 2007 climbed to 296, in 2008 to 348, in 2009 to 375, and 2010 to 395.

The REAL Talk program will focus on abstinence as the only 100 percent effective means of preventing pregnancy.  Additionally, students will learn about types of behaviors that are likely to increase the risk of pregnancy and contraceptive options to prevent pregnancy.  Per AISD policy, contraceptive devices will not be demonstrated nor will they be disseminated in District facilities.  Additionally, students who wish to participate in the program will be required to have parental or guardian permission.

“I’d like to congratulate AISD, LifeWorks and Planned Parenthood for working so hard to secure this grant, and the City is proud to support their efforts,” said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell.  “Addressing teen pregnancy is critically important work – especially here in Texas, where we have the third highest rate of teen births in the nation.”

Mayor Leffingwell as well as Congressman Lloyd Doggett authored letters of support for the collaborative REAL Talk application.

Next steps include the development of an implementation plan, starting in the Fall of 2011-2012 school year, and implementation of the ‘Know More/Know How’ social media campaign.  For more information regarding the REAL Talk program, contact AISD’s Health Education Coordinator Tracy Lunoff at 414-4778.

Austin Hires Chief Service Officer

The City of Austin has hired their first-ever Chief Service Officer. Andy Mormon will fill the job, which is funded by a $200,000 Cities of Service Leadership Grant. Mormon will be charged with engaging more of Austin's people in service and getting volunteers involved in some of the challenges facing the city. He has lived in Austin for 10 years and is a longtime human resources executive, a former aide to Mayor Lee Leffingwell and has been an active volunteer in the community.

“I’m very pleased that Andy Mormon will be serving as Austin’s new Chief Service Officer,” said Austin City Manager Marc Ott. “We found a unique combination of skills in Andy’s background.”

The grant, which is funded jointly by the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, will cover all of Mormon's salary and benefits. Austin is one of the 10 recipient cities of the second round of grants. Ten other cities were awarded grants in January 2010.

City Manager Ensures Ethics Top Priority Following Tainted Audit

In light of recent findings from an audit that some Austin city employees padded their time sheets - in one case enough to double the salary - city manager Marc Ott sent a memo to Mayor Lee Leffingwell and members of the city council on the topic of ethics and integrity in the city work force.

As you know, I have personally made organizational and personal ethics and integrity a cornerstone of our approach to becoming a “best managed” city. In light of recent Audit findings relative to payroll records, I felt that it was important to provide you with an update on our progress.

As I’ve shared with you in our individual meetings, part of building an ethical culture is creating an environment where employees feel safe bringing their concerns forward, and giving them the confidence that any issue will be investigated and addressed once brought to light. We have several avenues for employees to do so, whether through their normal chain of command, our Human Resources Department, the Integrity Office or the City Auditor. This is a message that I’ve reinforced throughout the past two years, and it has been a core message of my seven “Straight Talk” sessions with city employees this year.

In the past year, we launched a citywide Integrity and Ethics training program designed to reach every City employee in two years. In conjunction with this, we conducted a full-day Ethics retreat with all City executives to reinforce the importance of the initiative. I’m proud to say that training has been completed by 98% of the employees targeted for the first phase of the program that began this spring.

In reference to specific issues raised in the past week regarding payroll processes, I assure you that we take any instances of fraud or abuse seriously, and are committed to addressing them swiftly and fairly. In terms of process controls, the Human Resources Department launched an initiative earlier this year to evaluate our current systems and develop a strategy for improving and upgrading our technologies.

With that said, I think it’s important to recognize that people are at the core of ethical decision-making. While technological upgrades may help us identify issues, any system is vulnerable to manipulation if someone is determined to do so. That’s why our sustained focus is on making sure that the people in our organization understand our expectations when it comes to ethics, that they feel safe to report possible violations, and that they understand the consequences of violating our contract of trust with the residents and taxpayers of Austin.

In an organization of nearly 12,000 employees, there will be unfortunate times where we have to address ethical lapses. The measure of our success will be that we handle them in an appropriate and transparent manner. I look forward to continued cooperation with the City Auditor in fostering a culture of trust and ethical decision-making for our organization.