The Title XX Adolescent Family Life Program



Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs (OAPP) 
Prevention Demonstration Projects 

Prevention demonstration projects serve youth between the ages of 9 and 19, focusing primarily on 
younger youth between the ages of 9 and 14. These projects provide innovative and holistic abstinence 
education as defined by the A-H criteria contained in 
Title V, Section 510(b)(2), as amended. Each Prevention 
grantee is expected to provide intensive and strengths-
based programming that teaches abstinence until marriage 
in the context of meeting life goals and acquiring life 
skills, while incorporating youth development principles. Because of the demonstrative nature of the grant, 
projects are able to implement exciting new program 
strategies that stretch beyond classroom instruction. 
These new approaches are independently evaluated for 
five years. 

Each Prevention project is unique. All grantees are required to adhere to Title XX legislation that stipulates 
certain guidelines for services as well as the Welfare Reform legislation (P.L. 104-193) that defines the parameters 
for abstinence education. Services can be implemented 
using varying models. Prevention services are offered 
through a wide range of organizations, from school districts to community-based organizations to universities 
to local clinics. Each grantee is encouraged to develop an 
innovative approach to providing abstinence education 
activities to their respective population. 

The Title XX statute explicitly lists the services that may 
be provided by AFL prevention demonstration grantees 
(Section 2002). Among them are traditional abstinence 
education services covering self-discipline and responsibility with respect to sexuality, as well as the problems 
associated with premarital sexual relations. Services for the 
adolescent’s family are extensively covered: counseling; 
outreach services to discourage adolescent sexual activity; and development of materials to support the role 
of parents as providers of sexuality education. Involving 
parents in the lives of their children is an important and 
consistent theme in the Title XX statute and has been a 
major focus for the AFL program in the administration of 
these demonstration grants. 

Prevention demonstration projects also include independent evaluations. The evaluation component is 
designed to test the effectiveness of innovative projects. 
Each project works directly with an independent evaluator to design and implement an evaluation that will 
address issues relevant to the field of adolescent pregnancy. 
The evaluation is an integral part of the demonstration 
project. 


Department of Health and Human Services • Office of Public Health and Science 
Tower Building • Suite 700 • 1101 Wootton Parkway • Rockville, MD 20852 
PHONE (240) 453-2828 • FAX (240) 453-2829 • opa.osophs.dhhs.gov