Published: April 08, 2008 01:57 pm            

Visions of Hope for Healthy Youth

Forum on teen pregnancy set for May 8 from 10 a.m. to noon

Submitted by the North Georgia Health District



Visions of Hope (www.whitfieldmurrayyouth.org ) is a group of concerned citizens including parents, local business leaders, churches, schools, social services organizations, physicians, elected officials, teens and others who are concerned about the health and well-being of youth in Whitfield and Murray counties.

What is our vision of hope?

It is our goal to chip away at barriers that might prevent our children from meeting their full potential in the North Georgia region. Reducing the problem of teen pregnancy in our communities will be the initial focus of our long-term vision of hope for our youth. Working in partnership with the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, we have begun a rigorous process of analyzing how this important issue impacts our community, including collecting data and gathering critical feedback from community leaders, youth workers, health care providers and young people themselves.

How does teen pregnancy impact our communities?

• Nearly three new teenage pregnancies occur each week in Murray County

• Nearly six new teenage pregnancies occur each week in Whitfield County

What can you do?

By working together, we can develop creative solutions to this challenge and help achieve the statewide goal of reducing the teen pregnancy rate by 15 percent in Georgia communities by 2015. To find out how you can help, join us at the Visions of Hope Teen Pregnancy Prevention Forum on May 8 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dalton State College, in the Goodroe Memorial Auditorium.

For more information, contact the Family Support Council's Elaine Butler at (706) 272-7919, extension 222.

        

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