University of Maryland School of Medicine
Community Outreach
Realizing Excellence Through Abstinence Education Career Exploration
and
Healthy Lifestyle Choices (REACH)
The REACH program aims to empower youth with the appropriate sexual decision-making skills to practice abstinence as a peer accepted alternative to early sexual activity. Pre Adolescent and adolescent children attend a 24 week class to receive age appropriate instruction on peer pressure, self-esteem, decision-making, abstinence and the consequences of early sexual activity. Children will also have the opportunity to be matched with college and professional mentors that will support them throughout the program. Each child will also have the opportunity to "parent" a "Baby Think It Over" Simulation Newborn which looks, weighs and sounds like a real baby. Parents attend a 12 week class and participate in discussion topics such as Communication, Parenting Styles, Physical and Mental Changes of Adolescents, and Parenting in the New Century. Each session provides parents with an open forum to discuss issues and develop ways of handling the different challenges of raising adolescents today.
Contacts:
Connie Williams
410-328-3725
cwilliams@som.umaryland.edu
Community Served: Baltimore
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