Baltimore joins forces with teen health charity to sue feds over slashed funding (Baltimore Business Journal)
Friday Mar 9th, 2018
Baltimore City will join an existing lawsuit against the federal government seeking the restoration of grant funding supporting the city's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.
City Solicitor Andre Davis confirmed Friday that Baltimore is suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), following the early and seemingly "arbitrary" termination of a five-year grant. About $8.6 million in funding was awarded to support the city health department's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, starting in 2015. The grant was supposed to last through 2020, but was cut off early after three years. The city will lose a remaining $3.5 million in funding for the program over two years — that's what the city wants restored.
The charity Healthy Teen Network is working with political law group Democracy Forward to construct the lawsuit, which will now include claims from Baltimore officials. The suit will be filed next week, Davis said during a press conference Friday afternoon.
Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said the loss of the grant funding jeopardizes evidence-based educational programming around teen pregnancy prevention, including the training of local teachers on reproductive health curriculum and a Youth Advisory Council made up student peers who help distribute health information to young people throughout the city.
According to the health department, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program has contributed to a 61 percent drop in Baltimore's teen birth rate between 2000 and 2016.
"As a doctor and a public health official, I’ve seen how much this grant has helped us in Baltimore," Wen said. "Numerous studies show reducing teen birth rates increases young girls' ability to graduate from high school and to have economic stability for themselves and their families."