In 2006, Milwaukee ranked second highest in the nation, shocking the nation and making national headlines. After realizing how high their teen pregnancy rates were, United Way of Greater Milwaukee decided to address this critical problem. United Way is a nonprofit organization that believes in making the community stronger by working on community issues and ensuring everyone has a safe place to live. Milwaukee announced their overall ambitious goal which was to reduce the overall teen birth rate for 15-17-year-olds by 46% 2015.
Having high teen pregnancy rates not only affects the teenage mother and their child but also negatively affects the city of Milwaukee as a whole specifically with regards to poverty levels and unemployment rates. Milwaukee ranked seventh in the nation for highest poverty rates and fourth for highest rates of children living in poverty. Research shows that girls born to teen mothers are 83% more likely to become teen mothers themselves. According to Labor Statistics data from January 2010, teens who did not finish high school had an unemployment rate of 15.1% and also experienced less employment stability.
Overall the case had three different audiences they wanted to reach: teens, young male adults (18-34) and the community in general. The main target groups were teenage Latinos and African Americans as they had the highest percent of teen pregnancy rates. Studies show that 53% of Latinas will get pregnant before the age of 20. The UWGM conducted studies to understand the high teen pregnancy rates. They first conducted an interview with 58 agencies that interact with local teens. UWGM found that the teens who were becoming pregnant were part of the poverty cycle, which means that most of the teens who were living in poverty themselves were now bringing a new child into poverty.
The UWGM created powerful campaigns and committees who came together to fix this issue; thus setting up a plethora of different funds around the community which sponsored programs relating to the overall problem. According to the UWGM they had more than 25 tactics and over 100 stories in print, on tv and on the radio. Leaders from social service, government, business, public health, philanthropy, faith, and education sectors have all been represented on the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Oversight Committee which is under the UWGM. The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Oversight Committee laid out subcommittees including: The Collaborative Fund, Faith Community and Public Awareness which all focused on different aspects of lowering the birth rate among teens in Milwaukee.
The Collaborative Fund was one of the few programs that was aimed at finding a solution for teen pregnancy. Its purpose is to be “a collaborative fund in partnership with local funding sources to better support prevention efforts across a continuum of programs and strategies.” Some of the programs under the Collaborative fund includes: Creating Access to Prevention Services, Planned Parenthood, Milwaukee Teen Pregnancy Network: Youth Ambassadors, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. These programs are funded by the UWGM and have many different roles in helping women in the community. From just being moral support to educating them on sexual abstinence and contraceptives, they help these women with all different things. Some of the programs give out free packages of condoms and access to clinical service providers. Other services provide women with vaccinations for certain diseases that can be contracted like Hepatitis B and HPV. Overall, many people were willing to come together as a community to provide for the women in need.
Another committee that played an important role was the Public Awareness sub-committee. They needed to identify awareness strategies that have been successful elsewhere and also devise a plan to bring awareness to sexual victimization. There were many advertisements that were placed all throughout the city including some as bus stops, billboards, bathroom walls Facebook and sides of buses. Some of them were very harsh and disturbing causing the ad agencies in Milwaukee to face a lot of criticism locally and worldwide. The advertisements targeted different audiences including the youth overall, men and boys, parents, businesses and the general community. Ads that were targeted towards the youth had reminders of what they will lose if they become pregnant and different messages on them. For men, there were ads showing the responsibilities of being a father and also consent laws. For parents, there were ads encouraging them to talk to their children about sexual activity.
The rates of teen pregnancy dramatically dropped and the campaign achieved the objectives they set at the beginning. The UWGM was able to get their message across through community relations, focusing target audiences and shocking media advertisements. Most importantly, they achieved their goal of lowering the teen birth rates by 46% in 2015.