| July
3, 2002
Little
Rock—The Arkansas Department of Health has
issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an abstinence
education program.
As
part of its 1996 Welfare Reform Bill, Congress appropriated
a new fund of $50 million per year for fiscal years
1998-2002 to be used for abstinence education. This
money is a capped entitlement to be administered by
Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) that is separate
and above the $681 million appropriation for the MCH
Block Grant. The annual federal appropriation for Arkansas
is $660,004. Although an entitlement, every $4 of the
federal allocation must be matched with $3 of state,
local or private sector resources.
Congress
was explicit in its intent for the use of the Abstinence
Education appropriation. These funds are to enable states
to provide abstinence education and "at the option
of the State, where appropriate, mentoring, counseling
and adult supervision to promote abstinence from sexual
activity, with a focus on those groups which are most
likely to bear children out of wedlock."
Click
here
to view the RFP in Adobe Acrobat.
###
|
