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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are pleased to congratulate the Illinois | ||||||
| 4 | Subsequent Pregnancy Project, supported by the Illinois | ||||||
| 5 | Department of Human Services, on the 20th anniversary of the | ||||||
| 6 | project; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Subsequent Pregnancy Project is one | ||||||
| 8 | of the few adolescent programs in the nation that addresses the | ||||||
| 9 | issue of rapid repeat childbearing among adolescent mothers and | ||||||
| 10 | is focused specifically upon delaying a second pregnancy; the | ||||||
| 11 | project involves providing consistent, hands-on help to | ||||||
| 12 | teenage mothers; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, The project was started as a small pilot program | ||||||
| 14 | in 1990 by Pat Mosena, President of Options for Youth, as an | ||||||
| 15 | Illinois Department of Public Health program and was later | ||||||
| 16 | moved to the Illinois Department of Human Services; it is a | ||||||
| 17 | true community-based program effort among collaborating local | ||||||
| 18 | agencies; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Subsequent Pregnancy Project has had | ||||||
| 20 | remarkable success using a model combining an ongoing, | ||||||
| 21 | long-term relationship with a trained home visitor, a | ||||||
| 22 | bi-monthly advisory group meeting, and culminating in | ||||||
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| 1 | intensive training to become peer educators for participants in | ||||||
| 2 | the program; and | ||||||
| 3 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Subsequent Pregnancy Project has | ||||||
| 4 | served some 3,000 participants from 50 communities and reports | ||||||
| 5 | that only 3 percent had a second pregnancy while in the program | ||||||
| 6 | and 87 percent have remained in school or graduated; girls are | ||||||
| 7 | referred to the program by physicians, social service agencies, | ||||||
| 8 | and school counselors; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, A 10 year evaluation supported by the MacArthur | ||||||
| 10 | Foundation reported that rates of second pregnancies among | ||||||
| 11 | participants in the Illinois Subsequent Pregnancy Project are | ||||||
| 12 | lower than other community-based programs across the country | ||||||
| 13 | and that high school graduation rates are twice the national | ||||||
| 14 | average for pregnant and parenting teens; and
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| 15 | WHEREAS, As the Illinois Subsequent Pregnancy Project | ||||||
| 16 | prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this vital and | ||||||
| 17 | much needed program, we congratulate them for their hard work | ||||||
| 18 | and dedication to others; therefore, be it
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| 19 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 20 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 21 | we thank Pat Mosena and the men and women of the Illinois | ||||||
| 22 | Subsequent Pregnancy Project and wish them continued success in | ||||||
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| 1 | the future; and be it further
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| 2 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 3 | presented to the Illinois Subsequent Pregnancy Project as a | ||||||
| 4 | symbol of our respect and esteem.
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