"If every mentee were just like me, what kind of program would FUPTP be?"

Working with youth can sometimes be a challenge, but with a great program and wonderful kids, it can be an uplifting experience. This is the case with Families United to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (FUPTP).

Through FUPTP, youth between the ages of 9 - 15 years participate in an abstinence-based pregnancy prevention program, that utilizes our life-options curriculum. Each year, hundreds of youth receive programming that raises self-esteem, and improves social and communication skills. The curriculum also helps youth set and attain goals, assist with decision making and teaches them values. Of course, youth also learn about male/female relationships and anatomy, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Mentors between the ages of 15 - 20 years, as well as our adult staff help implement the curriculum topics with fun, innovative and exciting activities. Coming up with creative ways of teaching our curriculum is one of the toughest jobs, but our staff does an excellent job. Some of their ideas have included the game "Jeopardy" to help teach STDs, and role playing to show appropriate and inappropriate behavior when dining at a restaurant. Utilizing fun teaching methods keeps the mentees from getting bored, and more importantly, they learn! In addition to these activities, we also provide mentees with practical experiences outside the classroom. We have teamed with area businesses to provide job shadowing experiences for mentees. We also work with restaurants who donate their time and their lunches to give mentees a dining experience they may not have experienced. The older mentees also visit area colleges, which gives them the opportunity to learn more about higher education, and what it takes to get there.

FUPTP is offered at four MPS schools including Carson Academy of Science, Thirty-eighth Street School, Westside Academy II, and Congress Elementary School. This fall we hope to add Maryland Avenue and Hartford Avenue Schools. In addition, FUPTP is offered at Rosalie Manor in the fall, and for several weeks during the summer.

This summer, 100 youth participated in FUPTP at Westside Academy II. In addition to the curriculum activities, participants were treated to several field trips, and they held a rally in downtown Milwaukee, promoting the positive life choices they have made. One of the rally speakers, Bevan Baker, Health Operations Officer of the Health Department, praised mentees for doing something positive for their future. He said, "You are doing the things now that are important for your future. You are protecting your dream for the future, and are able to understand and reach your dreams with the help of role models like the FUPTP mentors." He also told them that they are the future of Milwaukee, and that he is excited about Milwaukee's future because of them.

We even had our own mentor, Tim Brown, say a few words to the group. Tim became a mentor in 1999 when he was a sophomore at Washington High School. Time told mentees, "I have learned a lot from all of you. I could have chosen any job, but I wanted to stick with FUPTP because it teaches you things for life, and that is special." He also said that FUPTP helped him "…and others stay out of trouble, and on the right track." Tim asked the mentees to ask themselves, "If every mentee were just like me, what kind of program would FUPTP be?" Tim graduated from high school this spring, and will be attending UWM this fall.

We would like to thank all of our program staff, mentors, mentees and our graduate student interns for a fun summer.