Oklahoma’s teen birth rate is the fourth highest in the nation, and Oklahoma County has the highest number of teen births in the state. Pregnancy and parenting among teens result in greater risks of poverty, health issues, unstable housing and employment, and food insecurity. Teen pregnancy prevention is a key strategy in the reduction of poverty. honestly serves as the backbone organization for the Central Oklahoma Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaboration. In this role, we convene and connect partners and change agents, engage and mobilize the community, evaluate and share data, and advocate for youth to have access to resources, services, and medically accurate information about s*xual health. The Collaboration’s goal is to reduce Oklahoma County’s teen birth rate by another 25% by 2025. The Central Oklahoma Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaboration (Collaboration) has been working together to reduce the teen birth rate in Oklahoma County since 2012. Today, the Collaboration boasts over 30 organizations and 80 individuals who are serving as community champions and change agents for adolescent s*xual health. Large-scale, lasting population-level change is not possible through the work of any single organization. A collaborative, cross-sector approach is needed to truly build a movement, and that’s where the Collaboration’s power lies. Using a Collective Impact framework, the Collaboration encourages organizations and individuals with different knowledge, experience, resources, and backgrounds to work together to achieve a broad community goal. Collective Impact has five key conditions to help guide the work:
A common agenda
A shared measurement system
Mutually reinforcing activities
Continuous communication
A backbone organization
To learn more about honestly visit, honestlyokc.org.
