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Who We Are

Our Identity: Project U-Turn (PUT) is a Teen Pregnancy Prevention program under the prevention services division of Hope For Miami.

Our Mission: The program seeks to reduce teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS risk behavior among Miami-Dade youth by inspiring them to envision and value positive futures for themselves.

Who we Serve: PUT partners with Miami-Dade County Public School system to serve middle school youth in grades 6-8. Since 2001, PU-T has served over 7,000 students in South Miami-Dade County.

Our Funders: PUT is funded by the FL Department of Health.

Our Strategy: Our approach to preventing teen pregnancy utilizes the "Choosing the Best”, a Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) Abstinence Education evidence based curriculum

Our Activities: PUT health educators engage youth in 8 weekly sessions on why “having sex” can potentially affect teens physically (STDs and pregnancy), emotionally, psychologically, socially, economically, and educationally. PU-T discussion topics include how to:

• identify a healthy relationship

• avoid or get out of a dangerous, unhealthy or abusive relationship

• develop the skills necessary to make good decisions

• set and reach realistic goals for the future

• recognize and avoid STDs

• process and apply information about contraceptives and their effectiveness against pregnancy and STDs

• discover and adopt practical ways to avoid inappropriate sexual advances

• understand why abstinence until marriage is optimal.

In addition, the Choosing the Best curriculum ensures teens receive all the information they need in order to make wise and responsible choices. The curriculum includes lessons about the media’s influence as well as the inter-relatedness of other risks behaviors - drugs, alcohol, and youth violence.