Letter from Our Chief Executive Officer

Dear Better Together,

If nothing else, 2020 has brought into clear focus the societal disparities that endanger the health and economic security of the most vulnerable people in our communities. They are the same disparities directly associated with teen pregnancy, a well-publicized driver of generational poverty.

While the nation’s birthrate has declined over the past decade, Dallas has the highest teen birthrate of the 20 largest metropolitan counties in the U.S. In Dallas, 1 in 3 children grow up poor, and face a multitude of inequities at the very start. As you can image, Covid19’s disruption has only further magnified these inequities.

A champion of teen pregnancy prevention, former Mayor Mike Rawlings did not shy away from addressing these inequities, “In zip code 75215 in the Fair Park area, the average income is about $25,000. When you think that 1 in 10 teen girls in this area are having babies, we’ve got poor, young women that growing up in poverty, having babies, and the chance of them pulling out of that income spiral is slim.”

It is a sobering issue as we contemplate the future of Dallas. We aspire for better for our children and see the evidence that reducing teen pregnancy can WITH A COMMITMENT TO be an integral part of a greater strategy EQUITY AS THE CENTER OF to eliminate poverty. We have got to go deeper, wider, and open up people’s hearts and minds to the possibilities of a city where all children have the tools to succeed. By paying greater attention to the role of EVERYTHING WE DO, OUR COMMUNITY OF PARTNERS WILL REDUCE THE TEEN BIRTH RATE IN THE TOP 12 the community in this effort for change, we ZIP CODES BY 50% BY 2023. will support a movement that leverages the community’s aspirations, and engages all aspects of education, healthcare, and policy. We seek to transform Dallas and eliminate the high teen birth statistics.

We owe our children real, accurate, and reliable information. Working together, we will ensure teens have access to quality reproductive health education and services and the adults and parents who guide them will receive similar information and support.

Over the last few years, Dallas has demonstrated that it is ready to tackle this tough issue. With the strong advocacy of Ntarupt, Dallas ISD adopted quality sex education curricula in 2019, and the City of Dallas has supported teen pregnancy prevention efforts, including Ntarupt’s public awareness campaign, Talk About It Dallas.

With a commitment to equity as the center of everything we do, our community of partners will reduce the teen birth rate in the top 12 zip codes by 50% by 2023.

Through this report, we highlight the partners who have made a difference and will continue this movement to put our children in the best position to make healthy, informed decisions, avail themselves of resources, and lead the lives they envision for themselves.

Dallas has many more capable partners who can all offer pieces of the solution. We have a real opportunity to continue our momentum and look forward to the possibility of working with Better Together to build on past work for inclusive community involvement to reduce teen pregnancy.

Terry Goltz Greenberg, CEO