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�PHOTOCOPY
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PHOTOCOPY
RESERVATION
�PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
STATEMENT ON TEEN PREGNANCY
ROOSEVELT ROOM
JANUARY 29, 1996
�[Acknowledgements: Secretary Shalala; Senators Pell,
Murray and Chafee; Representatives Clement,
Schroeder, Stokes, Clayton and Watt]
I'm pleased to report to all of you today about the
progress being made toward launching a national effort
to address the issue of teen pregnancy.
-2-
�As I said in my State of the Union, we are living in
an age of enormous possibility. More Americans, from
all walks of life, will have more chances to build the
future of their dreams than ever before. Of course, any
time of great change brings its share of great challenges
as well.
The first challenge I issued last Tuesday night was
to cherish our children and strengthen America's
families.
-3-
�And it was no accident that this was the first challenge I
mentioned. Family is the foundation of American life.
And if we have stronger families, we will have a
stronger America.
Teen pregnancy is a moral problem that can
quickly become an economic problem. The epidemic
rates of teen pregnancy in our country mean that too
many children are born into poverty and never escape
it.
-4-
�And teen parents can't escape it either because too often
they don't have the education and child care they need
to participate in the work force. When children have
children, it can create a destructive cycle that tears at
our very notions of family and community.
That is why we must do all we can to make sure
that every child who comes into this world has two
loving parents who are ready to support and care for
their child.
-5-
�Although the teen pregnancy rate is down, over one
million young women become pregnant every year.
And 80% of the babies born to unwed teen mothers
who dropped out of high school will live in poverty.
We must all work together to solve this problem.
Last year, in my State of the Union address, I called on
Americans across the country to join together in a
national campaign against teen pregnancy.
-6-
�Since then, members of my administration have been
meeting with citizens from all sectors of our society to
determine how a new national organization might
support and expand upon existing community-based
efforts.
That's why today, I'm pleased to announce that a
group of prominent Americans has responded and will
launch a full-scale National Campaign to Reduce
Teenage Pregnancy.
-7 -
�A dozen people are ready to begin this effort, including
leaders in the field of helping our young people, such
as C. Everett Koop and David Hamburg of the
Carnegie Corporation. Others who have agreed to play
a role include Drew University president Tom Kean;
former senator Warren Rudman; Ogilvy and Mather
chair Charlotte Beers; entertainer Whoopi Goldberg;
Atlanta Olympic co-chair Andrew Young; and MTV
President Judy McGrath.
-8-
�I'd also like to especially thank Dr. Isabel Sawhill, of
the Urban Institute, for her work in spearheading this
effort.
This is a serious, bi-partisan effort to address a
difficult problem in a substantive manner. Many of
them will be meeting tomorrow in New York, and in
the next month, this group will be up and running.
-9-
�And when the National Campaign to Reduce Teenage
Pregnancy holds its first board meeting, I'd like to
invite them to the White House to discuss how we
further their commitment to this important work.
Government must do its part in this effort. That's
why today I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Henry
Foster has agreed to serve as my senior advisor on this
issue, and will be my liaison to the National Campaign.
- 10-
�In his career as a physician and through his "I Have A
Future" program in Nashville, Dr. Foster has dedicated
his energies to the complex problem of teen pregnancy.
In his new role, he will work in partnership with
community-based organizations across our country to
give our young people the tools they need to build
responsible and productive lives.
- 11 -
�Ultimately, what is needed to stop teen pregnancy
is a revolution of the heart. We must all work to instill
in every young man and woman a sense of personal
responsibility. Having a child is the greatest
responsibility any person can assume. It is not the right
choice for a teen to make.
- 12 -
�This message to our children must be constantly
reinforced. One of the best ways to do this is through
community organizations, like the ones I just met with.
These groups, whether they are social clubs, mentoring
programs or school-based classes, bear the primary
responsibility of carrying this message to teenagers.
- 13 -
�And each of us as has a role to play. I'd like to
thank Colin Sears, who is here with me today, for
demonstrating what an enormous contribution one
person can make. Colin has worked at Baltimore's
Young People's Health Connection since he was in
middle school, teaching other young people to make the
right decisions and take responsibility for their lives.
- 14 -
�All of us must say to every teen: Do not become
pregnant or father a baby before you are married, have
finished with school and are ready to support your
child.
This is the way we need to meet our challenges —
by working together — on national and local levels, in
families and in communities, and in the public and the
private sectors.
- 15 -
�The era of big government is over, but we can't go
back to the era where we simply tell people to fend for
themselves. We have to move forward to the era of all
Americans working to meet our challenges together.
I'd like to thank all of you for being here today. If
we all work together to solve the problem of teen
pregnancy, we will make a difference.
- 16 -
�PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
STATEMENT ON TEEN PREGNANCY
ROOSEVELT R O
OM
JANUARY 29, 1996
[Acknowledgements: Secretary Shalala; Senators P e l l , Murray and
Chafee; Representatives Clement, Schroeder, Stokes, Clayton and
Watt]
I'm pleased t o r e p o r t t o a l l of you today about the progress
being made toward launching a n a t i o n a l e f f o r t t o address the
issue of teen pregnancy.
As I said i n my State of the Union, we are l i v i n g i n an age
of enormous p o s s i b i l i t y . More Americans, from a l l walks of l i f e ,
w i l l have more chances t o b u i l d the f u t u r e of t h e i r dreams than
ever before. Of course, any time of great change brings i t s
share of great challenges as w e l l .
The f i r s t challenge I issued l a s t Tuesday n i g h t was t o
cherish our c h i l d r e n and strengthen America's f a m i l i e s . And i t
was no accident t h a t t h i s was the f i r s t challenge I mentioned.
Family i s the foundation of American l i f e . And i f we have
stronger f a m i l i e s , we w i l l have a stronger America.
Teen pregnancy i s a moral problem t h a t can q u i c k l y become an
economic problem. The epidemic r a t e s of teen pregnancy i n our
country mean t h a t too many c h i l d r e n are born i n t o poverty and
never escape i t . And teen parents can't escape i t e i t h e r because
too o f t e n they don't have the education and c h i l d care they need
t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n the work force. When c h i l d r e n have c h i l d r e n ,
i t can create a d e s t r u c t i v e cycle t h a t t e a r s a t our very notions
of f a m i l y and community.
That i s why we must do a l l we can t o make sure t h a t every
c h i l d who comes i n t o t h i s world has two l o v i n g parents who are
ready t o support and care f o r t h e i r c h i l d . Although the teen
pregnancy r a t e i s down, over one m i l l i o n young women become
pregnant every year. And 80% of the babies born t o unwed teen
mothers who dropped out of high school w i l l l i v e i n poverty.
We must a l l work together t o solve t h i s problem. Last year,
i n my State of the Union address, I c a l l e d on Americans across
the country t o j o i n together i n a n a t i o n a l campaign against teen
pregnancy.
Since then, members of my a d m i n i s t r a t i o n have been
meeting w i t h c i t i z e n s from a l l sectors of our society t o
determine how a new n a t i o n a l organization might support and
expand upon e x i s t i n g community-based e f f o r t s .
That's why today, I'm pleased t o announce t h a t a group of
prominent Americans has responded and w i l l launch a f u l l - s c a l e
National Campaign t o Reduce Teenage Pregnancy. A dozen people
are ready t o begin t h i s e f f o r t , i n c l u d i n g leaders i n the f i e l d of
helping our young people, such as C. Everett Koop and David
�Hamburg of the Carnegie Corporation. Others who have agreed t o
play a r o l e include Drew U n i v e r s i t y president Tom Kean; former
senator Warren Rudman; Ogilvy and Mather c h a i r C h a r l o t t e Beers;
e n t e r t a i n e r Whoopi Goldberg; A t l a n t a Olympic co-chair Andrew
Young; and MTV President Judy McGrath. I ' d also l i k e t o
e s p e c i a l l y thank Dr. I s a b e l S a w h i l l , of the Urban I n s t i t u t e , f o r
her work i n spearheading t h i s e f f o r t .
This i s a serious, b i - p a r t i s a n e f f o r t t o address a d i f f i c u l t
problem i n a substantive manner. Many of them w i l l be meeting
tomorrow i n New York, and i n the next month, t h i s group w i l l be
up and running. And when the National Campaign t o Reduce Teenage
Pregnancy holds i t s f i r s t board meeting, I ' d l i k e t o i n v i t e them
t o the White House t o discuss how we f u r t h e r t h e i r commitment t o
t h i s important work.
Government must do i t s p a r t i n t h i s e f f o r t . That's why
today I'm pleased t o announce t h a t Dr. Henry Foster has agreed t o
serve as my senior advisor on t h i s issue, and w i l l be my l i a i s o n
to the National Campaign. I n h i s career as a physician and
through h i s " I Have A Future" program i n N a s h v i l l e , Dr. Foster
has dedicated h i s energies t o the complex problem of teen
pregnancy. I n h i s new r o l e , he w i l l work i n p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h
community-based organizations across our country t o give our
young people the t o o l s they need t o b u i l d responsible and
productive l i v e s .
U l t i m a t e l y , what i s needed t o stop teen pregnancy i s a
r e v o l u t i o n of the heart. We must a l l work t o i n s t i l l i n every
young man and woman a sense of personal r e s p o n s i b i l i t y . Having a
c h i l d i s the greatest r e s p o n s i b i l i t y any person can assume. I t
i s not the r i g h t choice f o r a teen t o make.
This message t o our c h i l d r e n must be c o n s t a n t l y r e i n f o r c e d .
One of the best ways t o do t h i s i s through community
organizations, l i k e the ones I j u s t met w i t h . These groups,
whether they are s o c i a l clubs, mentoring programs or school-based
classes, bear the primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of c a r r y i n g t h i s message
t o teenagers.
And each of us as has a r o l e t o play. I ' d l i k e t o thank
C o l i n Sears, who i s here w i t h me today, f o r demonstrating what an
enormous c o n t r i b u t i o n one person can make. C o l i n has worked a t
Baltimore's Young People's Health Connection since he was i n
middle school, teaching other young people t o make the r i g h t
decisions and take r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r t h e i r l i v e s .
A l l of us must say t o every teen: Do not become pregnant or
f a t h e r a baby before you are married, have f i n i s h e d w i t h school
and are ready t o support your c h i l d .
This i s the way we need t o meet our challenges —
by working
�together — on national and local levels, i n families and i n
communities, and i n the public and the private sectors.
The era of big government i s over, but we can't go back to
the era where we simply t e l l people to fend for themselves. We
have to move forward to the era of a l l Americans working to meet
our challenges together.
I'd l i k e to thank a l l of you for being here today. I f we
a l l work together to solve the problem of teen pregnancy, we w i l l
make a difference.
�PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
STATEMENT ON TEEN PREGNANCY
ROOSEVELT ROOM
JANUARY 29, 1996
�[Acknowledgements: Secretary Shalala; Senators Pell,
Murray and Chafee; Representatives Clement,
Schroeder, Stokes, Clayton and Watt]
I'm pleased to report to all of you today about the
progress being made toward launching a national effort
to address the issue of teen pregnancy.
-2-
�As I said in my State of the Union, we are living in
an age of enormous possibility. More Americans, from
all walks of life, will have more chances to build the
future of their dreams than ever before. Of course, any
time of great change brings its share of great challenges
as well.
The first challenge I issued last Tuesday night was
to cherish our children and strengthen America's
families.
-3-
�And it was no accident that this was the first challenge I
mentioned. Family is the foundation of American life.
And if we have stronger families, we will have a
stronger America.
Teen pregnancy is a moral problem that can
quickly become an economic problem. The epidemic
rates of teen pregnancy in our country mean that too
many children are born into poverty and never escape
it.
-4-
�And teen parents can't escape it either because too often
they don't have the education and child care they need
to participate in the work force. When children have
children, it can create a destructive cycle that tears at
our very notions of family and community.
That is why we must do all we can to make sure
that every child who comes into this world has two
loving parents who are ready to support and care for
their child.
-5-
�Although the teen pregnancy rate is down, over one
million young women become pregnant every year.
And 80% of the babies born to unwed teen mothers
who dropped out of high school will live in poverty.
We must all work together to solve this problem.
Last year, in my State of the Union address, I called on
Americans across the country to join together in a
national campaign against teen pregnancy.
-6-
�Since then, members of my administration have been
meeting with citizens from all sectors of our society to
determine how a new national organization might
support and expand upon existing community-based
efforts.
That's why today, I'm pleased to announce that a
group of prominent Americans has responded and will
launch a full-scale National Campaign to Reduce
Teenage Pregnancy.
-7-
�A dozen people are ready to begin this effort, including
leaders in the field of helping our young people, such
as C. Everett Koop and David Hamburg of the
Carnegie Corporation. Others who have agreed to play
a role include Drew University president Tom Kean;
former senator Warren Rudman; Ogilvy and Mather
chair Charlotte Beers; entertainer Whoopi Goldberg;
Atlanta Olympic co-chair Andrew Young; and MTV
President Judy McGrath.
-8-
�I'd also like to especially thank Dr. Isabel Sawhill, of
the Urban Institute, for her work in spearheading this
effort.
This is a serious, bi-partisan effort to address a
difficult problem in a substantive manner. Many of
them will be meeting tomorrow in New York, and in
the next month, this group will be up and running.
-9-
�And when the National Campaign to Reduce Teenage
Pregnancy holds itsfirstboard meeting, I'd like to
invite them to the White House to discuss how we
further their commitment to this important work.
Government must do its part in this effort. That's
why today I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Henry
Foster has agreed to serve as my senior advisor on this
issue, and will be my liaison to the National Campaign.
- 10-
�In his career as a physician and through his "I Have A
Future" program in Nashville, Dr. Foster has dedicated
his energies to the complex problem of teen pregnancy.
In his new role, he will work in partnership with
community-based organizations across our country to
give our young people the tools they need to build
responsible and productive lives.
- 11 -
�Ultimately, what is needed to stop teen pregnancy
is a revolution of the heart. We must all work to instill
in every young man and woman a sense of personal
responsibility. Having a child is the greatest
responsibility any person can assume. It is not the right
choice for a teen to make.
- 12-
�This message to our children must be constantly
reinforced. One of the best ways to do this is through
community organizations, like the ones I just met with.
These groups, whether they are social clubs, mentoring
programs or school-based classes, bear the primary
responsibility of carrying this message to teenagers.
- 13 -
�And each of us as has a role to play. I'd like to
thank Colin Sears, who is here with me today, for
demonstrating what an enormous contribution one
person can make. Colin has worked at Baltimore's
Young People's Health Connection since he was in
middle school, teaching other young people to make the
right decisions and take responsibility for their lives.
- 14 -
�All of us must say to every teen: Do not become
pregnant or father a baby before you are married, have
finished with school and are ready to support your
child.
This is the way we need to meet our challenges ~
by working together — on national and local levels, in
families and in communities, and in the public and the
private sectors.
- 15 -
�The era of big government is over, but we can't go
back to the era where we simply tell people to fend for
themselves. We have to move forward to the era of all
Americans working to meet our challenges together.
I'd like to thank all of you for being here today. If
we all work together to solve the problem of teen
pregnancy, we will make a difference.
- 16-
�- 17 -
�PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
STATEMENT ON TEEN PREGNANCY
ROOSEVELT R O
OM
JANUARY 29, 1996
[Acknowledgements: Secretary Shalala; Senators P e l l , Murray and
Chafee; Representatives Clement, Schroeder, Stokes, Clayton and
Watt]
I'm pleased t o r e p o r t t o a l l of you today about the progress
being made toward launching a n a t i o n a l e f f o r t t o address the
issue of teen pregnancy.
As I said i n my State of the Union, we are l i v i n g i n an age
of enormous p o s s i b i l i t y . More Americans, from a l l walks of l i f e ,
w i l l have more chances t o b u i l d the f u t u r e of t h e i r dreams than
ever before. Of course, any time of great change brings i t s
share of great challenges as w e l l .
The f i r s t challenge I issued l a s t Tuesday n i g h t was t o
cherish our c h i l d r e n and strengthen America's f a m i l i e s . And i t
was no accident t h a t t h i s was the f i r s t challenge I mentioned.
Family i s the foundation of American l i f e . And i f we have
stronger f a m i l i e s , we w i l l have a stronger America.
Teen pregnancy i s a moral problem t h a t can q u i c k l y become an
economic problem. The epidemic r a t e s of teen pregnancy i n our
country mean t h a t too many c h i l d r e n are born i n t o poverty and
never escape i t . And teen parents can't escape i t e i t h e r because
too o f t e n they don't have the education and c h i l d care they need
t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n the work f o r c e . When c h i l d r e n have c h i l d r e n ,
i t can create a d e s t r u c t i v e cycle t h a t t e a r s a t our very notions
of f a m i l y and community.
That i s why we must do a l l we can t o make sure t h a t every
c h i l d who comes i n t o t h i s world has two l o v i n g parents who are
ready t o support and care f o r t h e i r c h i l d . Although the teen
pregnancy r a t e i s down, over one m i l l i o n young women become
pregnant every year. And 80% of the babies born t o unwed teen
mothers who dropped out of high school w i l l l i v e i n poverty.
We must a l l work together t o solve t h i s problem. Last year,
i n my State of the Union address, I c a l l e d on Americans across
the country t o j o i n together i n a n a t i o n a l campaign against teen
pregnancy.
Since then, members of my a d m i n i s t r a t i o n have been
meeting w i t h c i t i z e n s from a l l sectors of our society t o
determine how a new n a t i o n a l o r g a n i z a t i o n might support and
expand upon e x i s t i n g community-based e f f o r t s .
That's why today, I'm pleased t o announce t h a t a group of
prominent Americans has responded and w i l l launch a f u l l - s c a l e
National Campaign t o Reduce Teenage Pregnancy. A dozen people
are ready t o begin t h i s e f f o r t , i n c l u d i n g leaders i n the f i e l d of
helping our young people, such as C. Everett Koop and David
�Hamburg of the Carnegie Corporation. Others who have agreed to
play a role include Drew University president Tom Kean; former
senator Warren Rudman; Ogilvy and Mather chair Charlotte Beers;
entertainer Whoopi Goldberg; Atlanta Olympic co-chair Andrew
Young; and MTV President Judy McGrath. I'd also l i k e to
especially thank Dr. Isabel Sawhill, of the Urban I n s t i t u t e , for
her work in spearheading t h i s effort.
This i s a serious, bi-partisan effort to address a d i f f i c u l t
problem in a substantive manner. Many of them w i l l be meeting
tomorrow i n New York, and in the next month, t h i s group w i l l be
up and running. And when the National Campaign to Reduce Teenage
Pregnancy holds i t s f i r s t board meeting, I'd l i k e to i n v i t e them
to the White House to discuss how we further t h e i r commitment to
t h i s important work.
Government must do i t s part in t h i s effort. That's why
today I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Henry Foster has agreed to
serve as my senior advisor on t h i s issue, and w i l l be my l i a i s o n
to the National Campaign. In h i s career as a physician and
through h i s " I Have A Future" program in Nashville, Dr. Foster
has dedicated h i s energies to the complex problem of teen
pregnancy. In h i s new role, he w i l l work in partnership with
community-based organizations across our country to give our
young people the tools they need to build responsible and
productive l i v e s .
Ultimately, what i s needed to stop teen pregnancy i s a
revolution of the heart. We must a l l work to i n s t i l l in every
young man and woman a sense of personal responsibility. Having a
child i s the greatest responsibility any person can assume. I t
i s not the right choice for a teen to make.
This message to our children must be constantly reinforced.
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This i s the way we need to meet our challenges — by working
together — on national and local levels, in families and in
communities, and in the public and the private sectors.
The era of big government i s over, but we can't go back to
the era where we simply t e l l people to fend for themselves. We
have to move forward to the era of a l l Americans workincfl^) j n e e t ^ ^ j ^
our challenges together.
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�I'd l i k e to thank a l l of you for being here today. I f we
a l l work together to solve the problem of teen pregnancy, we w i l l
make a difference.
�THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION RECORD ON
REDUCING TEEN PREGNANCY
A Summary Repon
President Clinton has called teen pregnancy one of the nation's most serious social problems,
and reducing its incidence has been a key goal of this administration's policy for young
people. All over the country Americans are beginning to address this and other issues by
reasserting responsibility for themselves, their families and their communities, and they are
starting to make a difference ~ the teen pregnancy rate has come down two years in a row.
Although there has been progress, teenage pregnancy remains a profound problem, and we
need to do more. Real solutions lie at the grassroots level, with families, communities and
young people themselves. The federal government can help focus resources in support of
work at the local level, and most important, it can help ensure that our policies support our
national values. The Clinton Administration's policy on teen pregnancy, and on youth
generally, have been built on two fundamental values:
Responsible Behavior: Personal responsibility has been a central part of the
President's message to young people, as he has urged them not to become parents
before they are adults, have finished school, and are ready to support their children.
He has supported policies that embody this principle, including abstinence-based
curricula, welfare reforms that discourage early parenting and require young mothers
to live at home and stay in school, and tough new child support enforcement
provisions that drive home the responsibility of parenthood to young men.
Opportunities for Youth: Teen pregnancy cannot be addressed in isolation from the
wide range of other problems confronting youth, their families, their communities and
their schools. Much of the Administration's social and economic agenda, ranging
from education to crime prevention to empowerment zones, is designed to provide
increased opportunities for young people and to give them something to say 'yes' to.
If our youth do not have access to education, health services, jobs, or safe places to
go after school and on weekends, they will not have a chance to make the right
choices.
This summary report provides some facts about teen pregnancy in the United States and
highlights some of the key components of Administration's teen pregnancy and youth agenda,
including: (1) Research and Evaluation to leam more about the causes of teen pregnancy, (2)
Community demonstrations to help communities try different approaches to leam what
works, (3) Policies that promote responsible behavior among young people, and (4) Policies
that provide young people with greater opportunities.
Recognizing that government cannot solve this problem alone, the President has called for a
national private sector campaign to prevent teen pregnancy, and the administration has been
working to catalyze such an effort. This report is not intended to address the status of
private sector initiatives, nor does it provide a comprehensive description of all federal
�efforts directed at teens.
�The Facts About Teen Pregnancy
A NATIONAL EPIDEMIC
pi;
Every year, about 1 million American teenagers become pregnant — that's
approximately 11% of women ages 15-19.
•
From the 1950s through the early 1980s, the rate of births to teens decreased steadily.
However, in 1986, that trend reversed, and over the period 1986-91, the rate grew by
24%. Recent news has been somewhat positive: From 1991 to 1993, the national
rate declined by 4%.
•
As the teenage population grows, teen births are expected to increase. Even if the
teen birth rate remains constant, the number of births is expected to jump 30% by the
year 2010.
TREND TOWARDS OUT-OF-WEDLOCK CHILDBEARING
•
In 1960, only 15% of teenage mothers were unmarried. As of 1993, 71% were
unmarried.
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS
•
The rate of births to teens in the United States is now twice as high as in the United
Kingdom and six times as high as in France, Italy, and Denmark.
ROLE OF ADULT MALES
•
A recent survey indicates that at least half the babies bom to teenage women ages 1517 are fathered by adult men ages 20 or older.
COSTS TO THE CHILDREN
•
Children bom to teens are more likely to die in their first year of life, to have lower
cognitive achievement, to repeat a grade in school, to be victims of abuse and neglect,
and to become teen parents themselves.
•
80% of children bom to unwed teenage mothers who have not completed high school
live in poverty. In contrast, of those children bom to 20 year-old married parents
who are high school graduates, only 8% live in poverty.
COSTS TO SOCIETY
•
In 1990, slightly more than half of all mothers receiving Aid to Families and
Dependent Children (AFDC) first had children as teenagers. And 43% of the longterm welfare recipients are women who gave birth at or before age 17.
•
More than three-fourths of all unmarried teen mothers receive welfare (AFDC) at
some point during the 5 years following the birth of their child.
�Research and Evaluation:
Learning What Works to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
The Clinton Administration supports comprehensive approaches to research and evaluation
with an emphasis on prevention of both first and repeat pregnancies. Woridng to understand
teen populations and the many forces that influence behavior both in and outside ofthe
home, monitoring and targeting new data, and evaluating old and new programs to leam
more about what approaches may be most effective in lowering teen pregnancy rates in the
United States are priority elements of our approach to research and evaluation. Following
are some examples:
Comprehensive Study; In June of 1995, the Department of Health and Human
Services issued, "Begiiming Too Soon: Adolescent Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy,
and Parenthood," a two volume report containing a comprehensive and exhaustive
review of the most recent research literature on teenage sexual behavior, pregnancy
and parenthood and on effectiveness of teenage pregnancy prevention programs. This
report was produced by Child Trends, Inc. with funding from the Department of
Health and Human Services, and is now available on the Internet at
http: //aspe. os. dhhs. gov/hsp/cyphome. htm.
State Data: In September 1995, HHS reported state-level teenage pregnancy data
for 1991 and 1992. This marks the first time that HHS is able to report state-level
teen pregnancy data. Updating trends on a state-by-state basis regularly provides
more information for making effective policy decisions and enables us to see where
we need to target our resources.
Family Planning and Adolescent Family Life : HHS funds, as part of Family
Planning and Adolescent Family Life programs, research projects and studies that
focus on adolescent sexual behavior. Goals of these studies range from developing
strategies to improve services to sexually active adolescents who are at-risk for
contraceptive non-compliance and young women who visit family planning clinics, to
learning more about: precursors and results of pregnancy and birth among adolescent
males, the factors that influence teen attitudes toward sexual behavior, and the
consequences for teen mothers who decide to parent as compared to those who place
their children for adoption.
New Mothers' Study: HHS funds The New Mothers' Study and has expanded its
original scope to provide support for a 5-year follow-up to look at longer term
outcomes, including employment and welfare dependency. The Study focuses on
research and analysis of a study in Memphis, Tennessee, where a sample of first-time,
low-income, pregnant women received weekly visitsfroma nurse. Approximately
65% of the research sample were 18 or younger at enrollment. Early findings
indicate that there were significantly fewer repeat pregnancies within two years
following the birth ofthe child for those women who received home visits. It was
originally started in 1988, and is also supported by other government agencies and
�private foundations.
Teenage Parent Demonstration: In order to gain further insight into the occurrence of
repeat pregnancies, in 1993, HHS funded a 5-year follow-up evaluation of the
Teenage Parent Demonstration, initially conducted from 1986 to 1991. This program
targeted the high-risk population of teenage mothers on welfare, providing case
management and support services such as education, training and child care. The
follow-up evaluation continues to monitor these mothers and focuses on the
occurrence of repeat pregnancies.
Reaching Into Our Communities And Promoting
Partnerships to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Tm trying to do things that I believe will help our country meet the challenges
we face today so that young people will have a better future. And it's obvious
to me that.... unless young people have good, healthy, constructive lives at the
grass-roots level, the things that I do will not succeed in getting you the future
you deserve." President Clinton; August 9, 1995
The Clinton Administration encourages local governments and communities to pilot new and
innovative demonstration efforts to prevent teenage pregnancy, and works with them to help
make these programs a reality. The Administration has sponsored a range of approaches
from abstinence-based education to service-oriented community collaborations. If a program
proves effective, one goal of collaboration is to foster sustainability so that it can eventually
operate without government assistance. Following are some examples of programs funded
under the Clinton Administration:
Adolescent Family Life Program: In September of 1995, HHS's Adolescent Family
Life Program awarded 15 grants totaling $4.2 million dollars for comprehensive
demonstration programs aimed at preventing early teenage sexual activity and
reducing teenage pregnancies. These programs feature innovative ways to emphasize
abstinence as the best way to prevent adolescent pregnancy and to encourage the
involvement of parents in these discussions with their children.
Communitv Coalition Partnership Programs for Prevention of Teen Pregnancy: In
September of 1995, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the new
Community Coalition Partnership Programs for Prevention of Teen Pregnancy by
awarding 13 grants totalling $6.5 million over two years. These grants enable
communities to develop plans for implementing and evaluating community-wide
interventions that are innovative, comprehensive and sustainable. In addition, these
demonstrations include an evaluation component.
�•
Healthy Schools/Healthy Communities: In 1994, the Administration started the new
Healthy Schools/Healthy Communities program ~ funding 27 new school-based
health centers in 20 states and the District of Columbia. These centers provide for
the health services and education needs of children and teenagers at high risk for poor
health, teenage pregnancy, and other problems. A comprehensive evaluation of this
program is currently being conducted.
The Corporation for National Service: Created under the Clinton Administration in
1993, the Corporation for National Service supports over 50 teen pregnancy programs
in 20 states across the country - working both to prevent teen pregnancy and to
assist teen parents. National service participants provide case management, mentor
pregnant teens, sponsor health fairs, teach parenting skills to teen parents, make
presentations on teen pregnancy prevention to school-age youth, help youth access
health care, provide referrals to health care providers, and develop social supports for
teen parents. National service programs are operated with members of AmeriCorps,
Leam and Serve America, and the National Senior Service Corps, who work
collaboratively with school districts, universities, churches, health departments,
national non-profits, and community-based organizations.
Healthy Start Program: HHS continues to support the Healthy Start Program, which
has demonstration projects underway in 22 communities nationwide to reduce infant
mortality in the highest-risk areas and to improve the health and well-being of
women, infants and their families. Among a broad array of services provided,
thousands of teenagers participate in prevention programs exclusively designed for
them that encourage healthy lifestyles, youth empowerment, sexual responsibility,
conflict resolution, goal setting, and the enhancement of self-esteem. A
comprehensive evaluation is ongoing and results are expected in 1997.
The Home Visiting Services Demonstration: In September 1994, HHS launched this
new grant program that is currently operating in three sites. Under the demonstration,
paraprofessional home visitors provide first-time teenage parents on welfare with
instruction and supportive guidance related to family planning, parenting skills, health
care for themselves and their children, and child support. The visitors also facilitate
the teenagers' participation in the required education and employment-related
activities.
�Promoting Personal Responsibility
Among Young People
President Clinton has made personal responsibility a central part of his message to young people,
urging young people not to get pregnant or father a child. Estimates indicate that over half the
mothers who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children were teenagers when they had their
first child. To prevent welfare dependency, teenagers must get the message that staying in school,
postponing sexual activity, and preparing to work are the right things to do.
By supporting welfare reform proposals that promote work, demand responsibility, and toughen
child support enforcement activities. President Clinton has sent a message that, "Nobody should get
pregnant or father a child who isn't prepared to reuse the child, love the child, and take
responsibility for the child's fiiture."
Welfare Reform: The President's welfare reform proposals incorporate a clear message to minor
parents seeking assistance: to get help, you have to live with a responsible adult, you have to stay in
school, and you have to be committed to supporting yourself and your children after high school.
Congress has endorsed the President's proposal requiring unmarried teen mothers to live at home
and stay in school in order to qualify for assistance. Congress also supports the Administration's
efforts to establish "Second Chance" homes, or adult-supervised group homes, as alternative living
situations to help teen parents break the cycle of welfare dependency.
Strengthening Child Support Enforcement: In 1995 the Administration collected a record of $11
billion in child support from non-custodial parents, an increase of 40% since 1992. From 1992 to
1995, paternity establishments have also risen by over 40% to an estimated 735,000. This increase
includes, for the first time, paternities established as part of the Clinton Administration's in-hospital
paternity establishment program.
President Clinton proposed a comprehensive child support enforcement plan as part of his welfare
reform legislation. The plan would streamline paternity establishment; require new hire reporting;
make child support laws uniform across state lines; computerize state-wide collections to speed up
payments; and require states to threaten denying drivers' and professional licenses to parents who
refuse to pay child support. Both House and Senate have adopted these provisions-changes that
should increase child support collections by $24 billion over the next 10 years. In addition, in 1995
President Clinton signed an Executive Order to crack down on Federal employees who owe child
support.
State Welfare Reform Demonstrations: The Administration has approved State Welfare Reform
Demonstrations to a record 35 states that include various provisions affecting minor parents. 12
states have authority to implement provisions linking AFDC benefits to the school attendance of
minor parents. Nine states have received waiver authority to require minor parents to live with their
parents or guardians or in an adult-supervised setting. A comprehensive evaluation will be
conducted for each of these demonstrations.
�Teen Pregnancy Prevention As Part Of A
Comprehensive Approach to Youth Policy
The Clinton Administration has worked to address the high rate of teen pregnancy by
confronting the complex economic and social factors often behind these high rates. We have
stressed the importance of investing in young people and in the communities where they live
in order to offer them positive alternatives to early parenting and sexual behavior. Critical
to this effort are Administration initiatives to invest in early childhood and adolescent
development, to provide equal educational opportunities for our children and youth, to invest
in distressed urban and rural communities, and to create more jobs.
Researchers have documented correlations between poor academic skills and early
childbearing; high dropout rates, illiteracy, a history of physical and/or sexual abuse, and
poor employment prospects are all risk factors for early childbearing. Research has also
shown that the risk factors for teen pregnancy, violent behavior, delinquency, and drug use
are similar and that comprehensive programs focused on changing behaviors related to
alcohol, drugs and teen pregnancy - such as focusing on raising self-esteem - have an
impact.
Following are examples of programs and initiatives in this area that the Administration
supports:
LEARNING MORE ABOUT YOUTH AT-RISK
•
National Adolescent Health Survey: Teens have been a significantly understudied
sector of the population. In 1994, the National Institutes of Health began funding a
new 5-year study known as Add Health, the first comprehensive study of the
determinants of adolescent health. Using a national sample of 7th through 12th
graders, Add Health examines the personal, familial, peer-related and community
related influences on health behavior, taking a more comprehensive look at the
health of our nation's teenagers in order to provide a better understanding of the
complex forces that promote good health for our young people and those factors that
put youth at risk.
•
Preventing Youth Violence in Public Housing: This year, HUD and CDC have
awarded a $550,000 grant to collect and develop information on youth violence
prevention research. The intent is to disseminate existing information on successful
programs to Indian and Public Housing authorities so that they can make more
informed choices about prevention programs, which offer alternative services and
activities for youth that can play a major role in preventing teen pregnancy as well.
�•
Comprehensive Strategy and Guide for Implementation: In December of 1993, the
Department of Justice published a Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and
Chronic Juvenile Offenders, following up with a Guide to implementing the
Comprehensive Strategy in June of 1995. Studies on the causes and correlates of
delinquency, which used large random samples of inner-city, high-risk youth in three
sites, provided the research underpinnings for these publications. All three studies
showed that chronic violent delinquent offenders have higher rates of dropping
out of school, gun ownership for protection, gun use, gang membership, teenage
sexual activity, teenage parenthood, and early independence from their family.
Comprehensive Strategy and its Guide for implementation provide an alternative to
increasing reliance on the criminal justice system by calling for the establishment of a
coordinated system of prevention and graduated sanctions programs that provide a
continuum of care for each child.
•
Review for Practitioners: Family Life, Delinquency, and Crime: A Policymaker's
Guide—Research Summary, was completed in May of 1994 by the Department of
Justice. Its findings indicate that family is one of the most powerful socializing
forces for young people, and can therefore seriously impact children's behavior.
•
Parenting Initiative: The Department of Justice completed research work in 1993
under a grant to the University of Utah and the Pacific Institute for Research and
Evaluation. This four-year major parenting initiative resulted in a document entitled
Effective Parenting Strategies for Families ofHigh-Risk Youth (December 1993),
which identified a representative group of 25 programs as potentially the most
promising. The research findings underscore the importance of a family-focused
approach to prevention and intervention of youthful problem behavior.
EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH AT-RISK
•
SafeFutures: In September 1995, the Department of Justice created the SafeFutures
Program, a five-year program which will provide approximately $8 million per year
to six jurisdictions for a comprehensive and coordinated delinquency prevention and
intervention program for at-risk and delinquent youth. Several programmatic
components allow the four cities, one rural jurisdiction and one tribal government, to
address teen pregnancy and receive support for specific counseling and education
services. These include support for family strengthening activities, mentoring, specific
services to at-risk and delinquent females, and general delinquency prevention
activities.
•
High Risk Youth Demonstration: HHS supports the High Risk Youth Demonstration
program, which funds innovative and effective model programs for preventing
alcohol and drug use among high-risk youth. One component of the program
targets the specific needs of females from 12 to 20 whose use of substances often
occurs with special factors (e.g. sexual abuse and domestic violence) that underlie or
�contribute to women's addictive problems. Every component of the program is evaluated.
School Health Programs: The CDC has established a national framework to support
school health programs that are locally determined and consistent with community
values. Programs in all S states and 18 major cities are designed to help young
O
people avoid those risk behaviors that result in HIV infection, other sexually
transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancies. CDC's Youth Risk Surveillance
System provides information about the prevalence of behaviors practiced by youth that
put their health at risk, and states, cities, and CDC use this information to more
effectively target and evaluate school health programs.
Youth Development Initiative: Started in 1994 under the Departments of Veterans
Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, the purpose of this initiative is to
address the problem of violence in low-income communities by providing young
people aged 13 to 25, with access to education and employment opportunities and
supportive services. Offering these positive alternatives and services to youth to
reduce violence are shown to be effective for affecting other teen behavior as well,
such as sexual behavior that could lead to teen pregnancy.
Youth Fair Chance: In July 1994, the Department of Labor implemented the Youth
Fair Chance program, funding seventeen sites. Youth Fair Chance is a communitybased program that targets money directly into high poverty areas where youth
problems are greatest. Working in cooperation with local service providers, these
sites use in- and out-of-school components to provide a variety of services that focus
on youth problems, like teen pregnancy, unemployment, drug and gang involvement,
and dropping out of school. Some of the sites utilize AmeriCorps volunteers.
The Community Schools Youth Services and Supervision Grant: Through this new
program established in 1994 under the Crime BUI, HHS provides matching grants to
communities with significant poverty and juvenile delinquency for after-school,
weekend and summer recreation and education programs. The program includes
an evaluation component.
Family Planning: In the face of strong opposition, the President has proposed budget
increases for the federal Family Planning Program each year and successfully
maintained the program. Among other reproductive health and education services,
this program makes family planning information and contraception available to
millions of women who might not otherwise get reproductive health care.
4-H Yppth Development Program and Children, Ypyth and Families at Risk
Initiative: The Department of Agriculture, through the Cooperative Extension System,
funds these important initiatives serving young people. These programs work with
communities to implement effective research-based programs which address a broad
range of issues and needs, including teen pregnancy, child abuse, infant mortality,
community crime and violence, and child care.
�•
Safe and Drug-Free School Act: Passed in 1994, this act responds to the continuing
crisis of violence and drugs in our schools by supporting comprehensive school-and
community-based drug abuse and violence prevention programs. Local school
districts in high need areas are coordinating violence and drug prevention programs
with comprehensive school health education programs.
•
Cpmprehgnsivg ggryires fpy Teenage Pftrgnts pn Welfere; In 1994, HHS funded
these grants, which supported development of programs providing comprehensive
services to meet the personal, physical and social needs of teenage parents, as
well as aiding the cognitive, physical and emotional development of their children.
They were implemented in conjunction with mandatory participation requirements for
education and employment-related activities.
LIFELONG LEARNING: INVESTING IN OUR YOUNG PEOPLE
" e can do all these things - put our economic house in order, expand world
W
trade, target the jobs ofthe future, guarantee equal opportunity - but if we're
honest, we'll admit that this strategy still cannot work unless we also give our
people the education, training, and skills they need to seize the opportunities of
tomorrow." President Clinton; January 25, 1994
Under the Clinton Administration, the Department of Education has launched a number of
initiatives that address teen pregnancy prevention through improved schooling for
disadvantaged students, coordination of health and social services, and school-to-work
opportunities to increase economic self-sufficiency. Drop-out prevention and drug-free
schools and communities programs address risk factors that are the same or related to those
leading to teen pregnancy.
Specific initiatives started or expanded include: The Goals 2000: Educate America Act,
Improving America's Schools Act, Title I Program; 1994 School-To-Work Opportunities
Act; and Head Start.
EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
The Clinton Administration has worked hard to encourage investment in distressed
communities, to create jobs and to help these communities rebuild themselves by designing
initiatives like the Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities and The Community
Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act.
January 16, 1996
�JAN-26-96 FRI 05:04 P
H
P-02
A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO REDUCE
TEENAGE PREGNANCY
2100 M STREET, N.W., SUITE 500, WASHINGTON. D.C. 20037
(202) 857-8531 Office. (202) 728-0232 Fax
BOARD MEMBERS
( A « of . W u a r y 2 6 , 1 9 9 6 )
CliArlotte L . Beers, C h a i r m a n a.ni C k i e f Exticutive O f f i c e r , Ogilvy And M a t t e r
K A f k a r i n e QraJiam, Cxkatrman «jf £ke EjcccutiT^ Conrmittcc, X k e W^a-skinx^'^ Posf. Company
^VLoopi OolJberg, *ctresR
D r . David H a j n k u r g , President, Caxnejie Corporation of N e w Y o r k
L T I T I J IB. HaiTas, C k a i r m « u , T k e H a r r i s Foundation
N a n c y KLafisobaum, U . S . Sftnaior
T k o m a s Kean, President, Dixsw U m v ^ r s i t y
E V C . Everett K»op, former Surgeon General
Judy M c G r a t k , President, M T V
H u « k Price, President, N a t i o n a l U r k a n Lo«gue, Incorporated
j
W t r r e n B . R u d m a n , former U . S . S « n * t o r , Paul, Wtiiss, R i f k i n d , W k a r t c n & Ga.rri«<m
A n d r e w J. Young, f o r m e r Amb/issador to tkt? U . N . t n d C o - C k a i r m a n , A t l a n t a C o m m i t t e e f o r tke O l y m p i c Garr.i
�Thoughts for POTUS talking points
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I am very pleased today to be reporting in more detaihqn the progress being made toward
launching a national effort to address teen pregnancy.
-a-
- One of our most serious social problems
- Very pleased to report that we are making progress: rates are beginning to come down
slightly - but much remains to be done. (FOR NUMBERS AND FACTS see summary
report).
^
o ^ u ^
Teen pregnancy is a problem that government alone cannot solve. It can only be addressed if
our whole society pulls together - public and private - national and local - families and
individual teenagers.
Hit on Values/message to kids
A couple of paras on values, importance of family, responsible behavior. We have to send
the clearest possible message to our young people — do not become a parent before you are
ready. Stay in school. Postpone sexual activity. Do not get pregnant or father a child until
you are married, through school and prepared to be a parent. [This language is Galston/Reed
language - particularly on the "married" thing. Even if we may not like it, we should
probably use it ]
Importance of Grassroots, Local efforts — these messages are really only going to be
effectively delivered at the community level - in schools, in boys and girls clubs, through peer
education and mentors. That's why I was so pleased to meet this morning with the array of
people behind me - almost all of whom have worked at the community level on this issue.
[Mention one of the stories specifically?]
Segue to National Campaign
To really reach our youth with these messages, we are going to need all parts of our society
to work together — businesses, entertainment, educators, religious leaders, community
activists, parents. . . . A truly national effort will unite all these sectors together to help the
people I met this moming and others like them accross the country replicate their efforts — in
every community, in every school. . .
That's why I am so pleased by the progress that is being made by a prominent group of
Americans in putting together a National Campaign to Reduce Teenage Pregnancy. A dozen
outstanding people have agreed already to be a part of this effort, including leaders in the
field such as C. Everett Koop and David Hamburg of the Carnegie Corporation. Others who
have agreed to play a role include former governor Tom Kean, former Senator Warren
Rudman, Charlotte Beers, the Chairman of Oglivy and Mather, Whoopi Goldberg, and Judy
McGrath, the President of MTV.
�Participants in Teen Pregnancy Prevention Meeting with the President
Program Coordinators:
Rosanne Bilodeau; Executive Director of Pathways/Senderos; New Brittain, Connecticut
Donna Fishman; Director of Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention
and Parenting; St. Paul, Minnesota
Jenny Knauss; Executive Director, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Pregnancy; Chicago,
Illinois
Angela Rice; English Teacher at Jefferson Junior High School and Best Friends Teacher;
Washington, D.C.
Colin Sears; Peer Counselor and Health and Education Outreach Specialist at the Young
People's Health Connection; Baltimore, Maryland
Bruce Taylor; Program Director of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts' Youth
Education and Development Program; Roxbury, Massachusetts (Greater Boston Area)
Barbara Ziegler; Executive Director of the Teen Health Connection; Charlotte-Mecklenberg,
North Carolina
Private Sector Initiative:
Belle Sawhill, Urban Institute; WDC
Kathleen Sylvester, Progressive Policy Institute; WDC
Barbara Huberman, Advocates for Youth; WDC
Dr. Foster
The President
Secretary Shalala
�This is a serious, bipartisan effort to address a difficult problem in a substantive manner. I
applaud their work so far and thank them for their commitment to this important work.
This coming month, the group is hoping to incorporate and I invite the full Board to come
back to the White House to celebrate this tremendous accomplishment next month. This is a
fine example of a challenge answered.
[Notes on campaign: really important not to say that it already exists, but to emphasize it's
about to be. Really important to stress bipartisan and serious and how pleased he is about
that]
Segue to Foster
I am also very pleased to be able to announce today that Dr. Henry Foster has agreed to serve
as my Senior Advisor on this issue. Dr. Foster, as most of you know, has a wealth of
experience working on this problem and his own program in Nashville is a model of the type
of community based effort we are hoping to help develop throughout the country. Dr. Foster
will be my liaison to the work of the National Campaign.
That's sort of a rough outline of how I would suggest structuring the remarks. I'll be in by
9:30 if you want to talk about it or need more information. Debbie and Janet will also be
around so we should be able to get you whatever you need.
�E X E C U T I V E
O F F I C E
26-Jan-1996
0 F
T H E
P R E S I D E
06:28pm
TO:
(See Below)
FROM:
Ann M. C a t t a l i n i
Office of Legislative A f f a i r s
SUBJECT:
Revised L i s t of Members of Congress for Monday
EVENT:
DATE:
TIME:
LOCATION:
Announcement of Dr. Foster
Monday, January 29, 1996
11:45 to 12:00 pm
Roosevelt Room
** Please note, Members w i l l enter through the N Gate at 11:30
W
am and park on the N Drive.
W
PARTICIPANTS:
POTUS
Sec. Shalala
Dr. Foster
MEMBERS CONFIRMED: (8)
Sen. P e l l
Sen. Murray
Sen. Chafee
Rep. Clement
Rep. Schroeder
Rep. Stokes
Rep. Clayton
Rep. Watt
MEMBERS PENDING: (4)
Sen. Moseley Braun
Sen. Lautenberg
Sen. Kennedy
Rep. Ford
MEMBERS INVITED BUT UNABLE TO ATTEND:
Sen. Daschle
Sen. Boxer
Sen. Feinstein
Sen. Snowe
Sen. Specter
Sen. Kassebaum
Sen. Simon
Sen. Harkin
�Background
Pathways/Sendgrps; ISfew Brittain, CQnnggtig^t
This is a community-based program that was started in 1993 with funding allocated from the
Connecticut Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative. Pathways/Senderos is based in a very
low-income neighborhood, with high levels of gang violence, in New Brittain. The program
serves 20 youths, girls and boys, all Latino, starting in 6th grade.
Rosanne Bilodeau describes the program as based on the Carrera model. The kids start in
6th grade and are intended to participate in the program fairly intensely over a long period of
time. Activities are daily, and they revolve around 3 of the 6 components that Carrera lays
out (due to lack of resources to implement the other 3):
•
•
education (keeping them in school, and aiming to do as well as they can)
family life and sexual education (abstinence and responsibility, and condom
distribution)
•
career (use new business to train with computer skills, people skills, and business
skills)
(Those not covered are health care, lifelong sports and creative expression)
In addition, parents meet together on a monthly basis. Pathways also tries to help families
with other needs they might have, such as providing used clothing, household goods, and
food.
Currently 13 out of the 20 kids have been a part of this program from the beginning. The
seven who have stopped participating in this program did so because their families moved
away to new neighborhoods. 100% of the kids are in school, have made it to the next grade
levels, and none have become pregnant. They are currently working with a national
evaluator.
Funding for the program for 1996 is primarily from the Connecticut Department of Social
Service and a community development block grant. The program has recently received
funding from the Stanley Corporation and a foundation to start a business that would help
train program participants and would help fund the program. They also work in partnership
with several local entities to support the program:
•
the university (campus visits, etc.)
•
the hospital, which helps with family planning education
•
the local Junior League Association, which donated a computer system for the kids
Rosanne Bilodeau cites her background as being a primary reason for becoming involved in
the program. She is originally from a rural area in Canada, where most of the girls have
children at a very early age. She is the first in her family not have parented as a teen, and
to have completed high school and college.
�The Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts' Youth Education and Development Program:
Roxbury, Massachusetts
The Youth Education and Development Program is primarily a school-based program. It is a
development and preventative model that focuses on African American and Latino males (815) in the Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plan and Mattapan areas. The program serves boys
who come from single parent families with incomes at or below the poverty level. It aims to
provide a vision for participating boys for their futures as students, workers, parents by
developing confidence, academic and employability skills, values and a sense of
responsibility.
Visitations range from 1-4 days per week and activities focus on increasing awareness about
therisksand costs of teen pregnancy, provide alternative lifestyle options and behavioral
models in conflict resolution and violence prevention. Activities range from discussions to
role-playing.
Quarterly, teachers, parents and students provide written assessment of the school based
program. Student attendance and report cards are monitored and charted. Contact has been
made with the Simmons College School of Social Work for help in program evaluation.
The program was started 8 years ago, and has expanded to serve 120 kids in 4 schools.
They are currently starting after school activities with one of the schools. The effort
represents joint collaboration between the Urban League and the Boston Public School
system.
Bruce Taylor started working with the program 3 years ago. Since he has started, none of
the boys have fathered a child. He does not have information that tracks the boys that
participated in the program before he started. He became involved because he felt that he
had an ability to make a difference as a positive black male role model and he came from a
family who always contributed to the community. (Women were his role models.)
Best Friends
This program focuses on girls in the 5th through 9th grades, using activities to foster selfrespect and promote responsibility in order to help the girls withstand peer pressure and
encourage them to abstain from sex and drugs. Locally there are 600 girls participating from
9 schools in the DC area, and nationally there are 1500 girls who participate in 20 schools.
The program's components include:
•
•
•
•
Curriculum that covers 'friendship, love and dating' once every three weeks. Angela
Rice and Elayne Bennett are the only two teachers in the DC area who teach this.
Fitness: exercise and dance after school once a week.
Mentoring: each girl has a volunteer teacher who they choose as their mentor who
they meet with for at least 45 minutes a week.
Role Models: women from the community, like Alma Powell, come to talk about
their lives to the girls.
�Additional activities include cultural events (going to Kennedy Center), public service events
(i.e. the March for the Cure), and an end of the school year ceremony honoring the teachers
and mentors who participate in the program. At this ceremony the moms are invited and the
kids put on a performance.
Angela Rice: She is an english teacher at Jefferson Junior High School and has been a Best
Friends school coordinator for 7-8 years. Her involvement with Best Friends includes the
following responsibilities:
•
She is a group discussion leader in the DC public schools that participate.
•
she runs the high school program for Best Friends in the DC area, tracking the girls
who have graduated from the program and are 9-12 grades, in addition to 2 classes in
college. (11 of these girls are on Best Friends scholarships.)
Please note that 5 of the Angela Rice's students will be seated in the audience in the
Roosevelt Room for the Foster announcement.
The Teen Health Connection
Charlotte-Mecklenberg, North Carolina
This is a comprehensive primary health care facility for young men and women, aged 11-22,
who are underserved. The clinic provides full physical and mental health services. The
President visited the clinic in August.
Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health
Chicago, Illinois
This is a non-profit, private organization that focuses on policy advocacy and public
education. It is a state-wide membership group, made up of local programs. They are
currently working with three communities to develop coalitions to prevent teen pregnancy
using a CDC grant.
Minnestoa Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy. Prevention and Parenting
St. Paul, Minnesota
This is a statewide coalition to strengthen policies and programming that relate to adolescent
pregnancy, prevention and parenting.
Ypyng People's Health Cpnnggtipn
Baltimore, Maryland
FINDING OUT MORE
�Colin Sears is 18 and in hisfirstyear of college at Baltimore City College where his major is
law. He has been volunteering at the Health Connection since he was in middle school, and
has been on staff there since March of 1994. He hosts 'waiting room work shops' on walkin days - which the clinic started doing as a way to educate young people as they wait for
services. He also is managing the outreach and education center which they opened about 68 months ago, as well as doing one-to-one counseling sessions with patients about their test
results.
�Participants in Teen Pregnancy Prevention Meeting with the President
Rosanne Bilodeau; Executive Director of Pathways/Senderos; New Brittain, Connecticut
Pathyways/Senderos is a community-based program started in 1993 with funding from the
Connecticut Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative. It is based in a very low-income
neighborhood, with high levels of gang violence, and serves 20 Latino girls and boys,
starting in 6th grade. Bilodeau describes the program as based on the Carrera model with
daily activities that revolve around 3 of the 6 components that Carrera lays out (due to lack
of resources to implement the other 3): education, family life and sexual education, and
career. 100% of the kids are in school, have made it to the next grade levels, and none have
become pregnant. The program has recently received funding from the Stanley Corporation
and a foundation to start a business that would help train program participants and would
help fund the program. Bilodeau is originally from a rural area in Canada, where most of
the girls have children at a very early age. She is the first in her family not have parented as
a teen, and to have completed high school and college.
Donna Fishman; Director of Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy,
Prevention and Parenting; St. Paul, Minnesota
The Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy is a statewide coalition to strengthen
policies and programming that relate to adolescent pregnancy, prevention and parenting.
Fishman started working the area of teen pregnancy prevention in college, where she
coorinated a peer sexuality education program and now monitors and provides technical
assistance to 6 community-based teen pregnancy prevention pilot projects, as well as
providing technical assistance to other agencies and coalitions aroudn the state.
Barbara Huberman; Director of Training and Sex Education for Advocates for Youth;
Washington D.C.
Advocates for Youth is a 10 year nationally recognized private-public partnership.
Guberman is the founder and past-President of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention
Coalition of North Carolina.
Jenny Knauss; Executive Director, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health; Chicago,
Illinois
The Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health is a non-profit, private organization that focuses
on policy advocacy and public education to improve the health of adolescents, particularly
teen parents and those at high risk for pregnancy. It is a state-wide membership group that
is funded by private foundations. They are currently working with three communities to
develop coalitions to prevent teen pregnancy using a CDC community partnership grant.
Knauss is a Board member of the National Women's Healt Network, is currently on the
Community Advisory Committee to the Sex Information and Education Council of the U.S.,
co-chair of Children and Youth 2000 in Chicago, and a member of teh Coordinating Council
of the Robert Wood Johnson Foudnation Childrena dn Adolescent Safety Project in Chicago.
Angela Rice; English Teacher at Jefferson Junior High School and Best Friends
Teacher; Washington, D.C.
Best Friends focuses on girls in the 5th through 9th grades, using activities to foster self-
�respect and promote responsibility in order to help the girls withstand peer pressure and
encourage them to abstain from sex and drugs. Locally there are 600 girls participating from
9 schools in the DC area, and nationally there are 1500 girls who participate in 20 schools.
The program's components include: curriculum, fitness, mentoring, and role models.
Additional activities include cultural events and public service events. Rice has been a Best
Friends school coordinator for 7-8 years. She is a group discussion leader in the DC public
schools that participate (she and Elayne Bennett are the only two for the DC area), and she
tracks the girls who have graduated from the program in the D.C. area. (Please note that 4
of Angela Rice's students and the Jefferson Junior High School principal will be seated in the
audience in the Roosevelt Room for the Foster announcement.) Also, she was here when
Best Friends received an award on National Parents Day last year.
Colin Sears; Peer Counselor and Health and Education Outreach Specialist at the Young
People's Health Connection; Baltimore, Maryland
Colin Sears is 18 and in his first year of college at Baltimore City College where his major is
law. He has been volunteering at the Health Connection since he was in middle school, and
has been on staff there since March of 1994. He hosts 'waiting room work shops' on walkin days ~ which the clinic started doing as a way to educate young people as they wait for
services ~ and leads one-to-one counseling sessions with patients about their test results. He
also manages The Outreach and Education Center, which opened 6-8 months ago.
Isabel (Belle) Sawhill; Senior Policy Associate at the Urban Institute; Washington, D.C.
As you know, Belle has been driving the effort to form the National Campaign for Teen
Pregnancy Prevention. She was an Associate Director of OMB before the Urban Institute.
Kathleen Sylvester; Vice President for Domestic Policy at the Progressive Policy
Institute; Washington, D.C.
Sylvester is the author of Preventable Calamity: Rolling Back Teen Pregnancy and SecondChance Homes; Breaking the Cycle of Teen Pregnancy. She has served as an advisor on teen
pregnancy to federal and state officials and is working with Belle Sawhill on the private
sector initiative; she attended the meeting you held in October on teen pregnancy prevention.
Bruce Taylor; Program Director of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts' Youth
Education and Development Program; Roxbury, Massachusetts
The Youth Education and Development Program is primarily a school-based program that
focuses on African American and Latino males (8-15) in the greater Boston area. The
program serves boys who come from single parent families with incomes at or below the
poverty level. It aims to provide a vision for participating boys for their futures as students,
workers, parents by developing confidence, academic and employability skills, values and a
sense of responsibility. Visitations range from 1-4 days per week and activities focus on
increasing awareness about therisksand costs of teen pregnancy, provide alternative lifestyle
options and behavioral models in conflict resolution and violence prevention. The program
was started 8 years ago, and has expanded to serve 120 kids in 4 schools and is a joint
collaboration between the Urban League and the Boston Public School system. They are a
member program of the Alliance for Young Families, which is implementing a CDC
community partnership grant with city of Boston. Taylor started working with the program 3
�years ago. Since he has started, none of the boys have fathered a child. He became
involved because he felt that he had an ability to make a difference as a positive black male
role model.
Barbara Ziegler; Executive Director of the Teen Health Connection; CharlotteMecklenberg, North Carolina
Teen Health Connection is a private, non-profit comprehensive primary health care facility
for underserved young men and women, aged 11-22. The clinic, which you visited last
August, provides full physical and mental health services. Before working at Teen Health
Connection, Ziegler was the Foudnation Director for Mecklenburg Council on Adolescent
Pregnancy and Founder and Vice President of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of
North Carolina.
Dr. Foster
The President
Secretary Shalala
�J? p
TEEN PREGNANCY EVENT
1.
Purpose/Message of event
PURPOSE OF THE EVENT: Demonstrate follow through on President's challenge and
announcement in the State of the Union regarding teen pregnancy:
"To strengthen the family, we must do everything we can to keep the teen pregnancy
rate going down. It is still far too high. Tonight I am pleased to announce lhat a
group of prominent Americans is responding to that challenge by forming an
organization that will support grass roots community efforts in a national campaign
against teen pregnancy."
NEWS/MESSAGE: The President will announce the appointment of Dr. Henry Foster as a
Senior Advisor to the President on Teen Pregnancy and Youth Issues. He will also be
meeting with a small group of people who have been working at the state and local level on
the issue to discuss how their work can be replicated in other communities with the help of a
National Campaign. Some of the organizers of the National Campaign will be joining the
discussion as well.
2.
Structure of the event
Proposed:
3.
30 minute discussion in Oval (closed press)
- 12 participants: POTUS, Shalala, Foster, Belle Sawhill, 8 others TBD
Statements to press following discussion in Roosevelt Room?
- Shalala, POTUS, Foster (10-12 minutes total); No Q/A
©utreach to National Campaign
^ CjfV(^le%Jl - T V ^ G
At this point, none of the people who have agreed to be a part of the Campaign
can make it on Monday; some calls still to be made. Belle Sawhill will be
there.
4.
State/Local reps
- Debbie Fine vetting with HHS, other friends - working with Belle
- goal is geographically diverse; fallback on Maryland
- will have names/bios by noon Saturday
^
601 (cX i)
- UuW m S.OTU
/y QJ ^
Joius
-S?
�5.
Foster
- 9:00 Monday briefing for Foster in JBA office: Press, OPL, HHS should come
- He will not do press on Monday.
6.
Pre-brief
- for participants at 9:30 in room 180.
7.
Media Plans
- we may well have some regional media opportunities with the invitees. Debbie
will work with Media Affairs by mid afternoon, once we know who is
coming.
9.
Group Briefing
- we plan to set up a briefing on teen pregnancy for interest groups early the week of
February 5. The briefing will include Foster and more info on the Naitonal
Campaign.
10.
Other courtesy calls: Leg, other?
�I- f
imj. Clinton, 1995
Administration of William]. Clinton, 1995 I Aug. 9
o consider whethid consistent with
PCRA, 42 U.S.C.
he list of Standard
ion ("SIC") Code
rough 39 (as in efFor SIC Code desird Industrial Clasiblished by the Ofand Budget. EPA
ulemaking process
edule.
id implementation
n, and transparent
ation of reporting
nformation on the
ds at facilities, inon mass balance,
, or other chemical
ant
to section
>CRA, 42 U.S.C.
shall report on the
ort by October 1,
obtaining sufficient
e to make informed
ng implementation
ogram.
ontinue unless spe/. The head of each
agency shall assist
ction Agency in im• as quickly as pos-
Statement on Welfare Reform
August 8,1995
ie internal manage•anch and does not
efit, substantive or
)y any party against
ncies or instrumenplovees, or any perfice of Management
jd and directed to
im in the Federal
illiam J. Clinton
:he Federal Register.
was published in the
1.
1401
fare reforms I initiated with the States over
the last 2 years. We will continue to move
people from welfare to work. We will conSix months ago, I convened a Presidential tinue to require teen moms to stay in school
conference on welfare at the Blair House. and live at home as a condition of their beneDemocrats and Republicans from the Con- fits. I call on this Congress to join me in a
gress to the State houses came to Washington bipartisan endeavor, with politics aside and
to forge a bipartisan agreement on welfare. the national interest at the center of our efAt the conference we agreed on the need forts.
for child support to be a part of any welfare
reform legislation. Now, the bill passed in
the House and the legislation in the Senate Remarks to the Progressive National
includes comprehensive child support re- Baptist Convention in Charlotte,
form.
North Carolina
Since the conference, we have agreed to August 9,1995
drop any inclusion of orphanages in welfare
reform. Since the conference, we have
Thank you. Mr. President Smith, I'm glad
agreed to require teen moms to live at home you explained that whole thing because here
and stay in school as a condition to receiving I was about to speak, I'd let enough time
welfare. Since the conference, we have go by between Gardner Taylor and me that
agreed that all recipients must sign a work you could maybe forget some of my—[laughcontract as a condition upon receiving bene- ter]—and then you said, we're going to wait
fits.
until after he speaks to sing "Oh Happy
In addition to the progress we have made Day." [Laughter] But I think I understand
on a bipartisan basis of what welfare reform it.
legislation must include, I have signed a
To all the vice presidents and your convensweeping Executive order concerning child tion secretary and Reverend Booth and many
support collection from delinquent parents. of my friends who are here. Reverend Otis
My administration is collecting a record Moss, Reverend Charles Adams, Reverend
amount of child support, making responsibil- Billy Kyles and Reverend Shepard. To my
ity a way of life, not an option.
wonderful friend Reverend Gardner Taylor,
This year alone I have approved a dozen thank you for what you said. I intend to tell
Welfare reform experiments. The experi- the story of the hound dog and the hare.
ments have included new proposals, among [Laughter] Where appropriate, I will give
them: requiring people to work for their ben- you credit. [Laughter] To Governor Jim
efits, requiring teen moms to stay at home Hunt—ladies and gentlemen, Jim Hunt may
and in school, requiring welfare recipients to be the most popular Governor in America.
be held to a time limit, requiring delinquent He's certainly one of the two or three finest
parents to pay child support, and requiring Governors in America, and a great friend of
people on welfare to sign a contract which mine. We're glad to have him here. In
would hold them accountable to finding a 1979—that was a long time ago—when I had
job. Tlie State experiments now total 32 no gray hair and he had much less—[laughStates reaching 7 million individuals.
ter]—he nominated me to be the vice chairIt is time to put partisanship and politics man of the Democratic Governors Associaaside and to get the job done. The American tion. No one knew who I was. I was 33 years
people deserve real welfare reform and have old. And if it hadn't been for that, I might
)een kept waiting long enough. We need a not be here today. Now, that may get him
bipartisan bill that ends welfare and replaces in a lot of trouble down here for all I know,
it with work. I hope the Senate will place but I will always be grateful to Jim Hunt for
welfare at the top of its agenda in September the role he had in my life and the role he's
had in the life of this State and Nation.
and take swift action.
While Congress continues to debate welI have looked forward to coming here. I
fare, I will proceed with the far-reaching wel- feel at home. Most people down here don't
�1402
Aug. 9 / Administration of William J Clinton. 1995
speak with an accent; I like that. [Laughter]
And since I'm at home I want to talk about
something I have been trying to deal with
all across America lately, and that is, how are
we going to find the common ground we
need to walk the road we have to walk together? How can we rise above our differences and march into the future together?
You've set a good example here. I understand this is the first ever joint meeting between the Progressive Baptist Convention
and the Alliance of Baptists. This will have
a lot of subsidiary good benefits. For example, it's doing those white folks up there a
world of good to sing in a choir like that.
[Laughter and applause] That may be a racially insensitive, politically incorrect remark,
but having spent countless hours of my life
in Baptist church choirs, I do know what I
am talking about. [Laughter] I can't believe
I said that. [Laughter] "A happy heart doeth
good like medicine." [Laughter]
I do believe as strongly as I can say that
we have to fight for common ground instead
of fight to tear each other apart. And I say
that not because I have suffered my share
of slings and arrows as President in the absence of common ground—it's just an honor
to show up for work every day. St. Paul said
that God put a thorn in his flesh so he would
not be exalted in his own eyes. If that is the
test, I feel downright humble today. [Laughter]
Whether we like it or not, we are all in
this together. Whether we like it or not, we
are an American family, and we behave like
a good family or a bad family, or a little bit
of both, but we are a family. We have to
get together. That's why I made the speech
I did on affirmative action. Let's don't get
away from something that's helping us until
we don't need it anymore. I thought it was
important to tell the American people that
everything is not equal in terms of opportunity in our country today, even though the
laws have changed, and also important to remind people about what affirmative action
is and isn't. It's not about quotas. It's not
about unqualified people getting anything.
It's not about reverse discrimination. All of
that is illegal and will not be tolerated wherever we can find it.
We ought to shift more efforts to help people just because they're poor, without regard
to their race or gender. But we need to rec ognize that we have to have ways to make
sure we're going forward together. The future really should be America's best time.
Here we are Ihing in this global societv
where information goes around the world in
a split second. We flip on CNN; we know
what they're doing in some countrv we
couldn't find on a map 6 months ago. It's
great.
But if we're going to be a global village,
what country is in a better position to do well
than the one that is the most racially, ethnically, religiously diverse, with the most
powerful private sector in the world, the
United States. If we can find a way to get
along together and to work together and
solve our problems together, our best davs
are before us. That is what is at issue here
And we know that affirmative action won't
amount to anything if we don't deal with our
big problems. We don't want to be part of
a lot of Americans fighting over a shrinking
pie. We don't want to be one of these families
with a whole lot of heirs and the estate's
going down. W e want to be a family where
everybody has a brighter future. So that
means we have to deal with the economic
problems of the American family, the social
problems of the American family. And it
means we have to be candid in saving that
we can't make up for the shortcomings of
our individual families or churches or communities unless they do their part.
And that's what I want to talk to you about
today. There's been a lot of talk for 15 or
20 years now about family values. What are
the family values of the American family, and
what do they compel us to do right now,
today, this day, and tomorrow when we get
up in the moming and God gives us another
day of life? What do they say we ought to
do? Are we going to use this discussion of
family values this year and next to lift up or
to tear down, to unite or to divide? Is it going
to be a weapon of words to harden the hearts
of some Americans against another, or is it
going to be a way of asking ourselves what's
this family all about?
Some folks like this family values issue because they get to preach at other people.
Adininistration of
Thev get to preach I
mature sex and teeil
to preach against tl
things. They get to
crime. Thev get t(l
Now, that 's not all I
Some folks like tlJ
they are working hai]
ilies together, to kl
gether, to pay their I
care of their parents
help from their Go\
munity or from their I
But raising a familj
it fundamentally—th|
ily. Isn't raising a far
the obligations we
the family? Isn't it f j
responsibility we havj
tions and then to belf
we can make the mos
if we're going to talk
of America, shouldn'l
that? Isn't that what)
ought to be about, tl
to other members of i
sibilities we have to f j
and the responsibility
lives so that we can' lil
our God-given capaciti
Now, that means th
good preaching, but \
Samaritans, too. It alsc
look at our neighbor a
his or her eye, we've
beam's out of ours.
But these problemsto make is that all the
as an American famih
family, they have a mon
some preaching and bel
a communal aspect whi
help from Samaritans.
You look at the teen
People obviously have tc
to do that. We can't rm
them. They have to ma
people have to be—[app
ter of personal ethics ani
'ues. And we're just kidc
pretend that there's som
cial program that will solv
�iam J. Clinton, 1995
Administration of William ]. Clinton, 1995 I Aug. 9
efforts to help peotoor, without regard
Jut we need to rechave ways to make
i together. The fumerica's best time,
this global society
iround the world in
on CNN; we know
some country we
6 months ago. It's
They get to preach against violence and premature sex and teen pregnancy, and they get
to preach against the media promoting such
things. They get to preach against drugs and
crime. They get to tell people, "Behave."
Now, that's not all bad. But is it enough?
Some folks like this issue because, frankly,
they are working hard to keep their own families together, to keep body and soul together, to pay their bills, raise their kids, take
care of their parents, and they'd like a little
help from their Government or their community or from their church.
But raising a family—what's it about? Isn't
it fundamentally—think about your own family. Isn't raising a family fundamentally about
the obligations we owe to other people in
the family? Isn't it fundamentally about the
responsibility we have to fulfill those obligations and then to behave in such a way that
we can make the most of our own lives? And
if we're going to talk about the family values
of America, shouldn't we talk about it like
that? Isn't that what the American family
ought to be about, the obligations we owe
to other members of the family, the responsibilities we have to fulfill those obligations,
and the responsibility we have to conduct our
lives so that we can live up to the fullest of
our God-given capacities?
Now, that means that we can stand some
good preaching, but we've got to be good
Samaritans, too. It also means that when we
look at our neighbor and we see that sty in
his or her eye, we've got to make sure the
beam's out of ours.
But these problems—the point I'm trying
to make is that all these problems we face
as an American familv or in our individual
family, they have a moral aspect which needs
some preaching and behaving, and they have
a communal aspect which may need a little
help from Samaritans.
You look at the teen pregnancy problem.
People obviously have to make a decision not
to do that. We can't make that decision for
them. They have to make that decision and
people have to be—[applause]—that's a matter of personal ethics and discipline and values. And we're just kidding ourselves if we
pretend that there's some picture-prettv social program that will solve this.
be a global village,
r position to do well
: most racially, eth•se, with the most
in the world, the
i find a way to get
work together and
ither, our best days
hat is at issue here,
rmative action won't
i don't deal with our
want to be part of
ing over a shrinking
one of these families
irs and the estate's
) be a family where
ter future. So that
with the economic
in family, the social
can family. And it
ndid in saying that
ie shortcomings of
churches or comleir part.
to talk to you about
)t of talk for 15 or
v values. What are
merican family, and
to do right now,
irrow when we get
od gives vis another
v sav we ought to
i this discussion of
d next to lift up or
o divide Is it going
uirden the hearts
o
st another, or is it
ig ourselves what's
3
lilv v alues issue beat other people.
1403
On the other hand, when people do want
to behave, they're entitled to a little help
from their friends, from their Samaritans. If
a young girl has a child and wants to get off
welfare and wants to go to school or go to
work, then there has to be some child care.
So you need—if you want to fight the crime
problem, you've got to punish those who do
wrong, but you also have to take these kids
who are in severe, severely difficult circumstances, at great risk of doing wrong, and
give them something to say yes to, something
to be hopeful about.
You know, a couple of years ago when we
, passed the crime bill, which had the toughest
punishments in history, we put more money
into prevention programs than ever before.
And the people who opposed us ridiculed us
in the name of something called midnight
basketball. As far as I know, nobody has ever
been arrested playing midnight basketball for
dealing dope on a basketball court with an
adult supervisor there.
So who are we trying to kid here? Let's
take it the other way. Look at an economic
problem. It can also become a moral probem. The fact is most families in the American family are working families. Most poor
people in America are now living in working
families. And most people are working longer
hours today than they were 10 years ago for
the same or lower wages. Now, that's a fact.
Now, you say, that's an economic fact. Well,
it can become a moral fact if people who
are working harder for less have less time
and energy, not to mention money, to invest
in their children and their education, to keep
their kids out of trouble, to do what they want
to do.
I never will forget a few years ago, eventime I ran for office at home in Arkansas,
I used to make it a point to go to the earliest
factory gate in my State—Campbell Soup
factory in northwest Arkansas. People started
going to work there at 4:30 a.m., and I figured if I'd show up between 4:30 and a quarter to 5 and shake hands with evervbodv on
that shift, somebody would say, "Well, if that
guy's fool enough to do this we ought to give
him a vote." [Laughter] And it worked.
[Laughter] And so I did it. But I never will
forget, one day I was there quarter to 5 in
the morning; pickup truck pulls up outside
:-i^iiiigiiSifi
�.„.irl.'.;..
1404
Aug. 9 / Administration of William J Clinton, 1995
the factory; the door opens, a light comes
on inside the pickup truck. There's this really
attractive young couple there. The young
wife is going to work; the husband is driving
off. They have three little kids in that pickup
truck, in the front seat. And 1 said, now what
are you going to do? He said, well, my wife
has to be at work; she has to check in by
5 a.m. every moming. And I have to be at
work by 7 a.m. So I have to find somebody
who will take my children at 6:30, which most
child care people won't. So I've got to now
go back home, make breakfast for these kids,
get them there, and then drop them off at
the child care center. Then I've got to show
up at 7 a.m.
Now, that's maybe an extreme example,
but not an atypical example of the way most
families live today. Isn't that right? Most people are working today. So I would argue to
you that that's an economic issue that has
become a moral issue. How can our society
succeed unless people can be good parents
and good workers? And if we have to choose
one or the other, who's going to fall between
the cracks? The kids. We live in a world
where we must not make people choose. We
have to succeed at both.
Now, for 2 V2 years that's what I have been
working at. That's why I want to bring this
deficit down and balance the budget. That's
why I tried to create jobs with investments
and special incentives for people to put
money into poor areas and expanding trade
so we could sell more of our stuff around
the world. That's why I tried to increase education from Head Start to kids, to more affordable college loans and scholarships and
national senice for kids to go to college.
That's why we're putting money into the fight
against crime and the war against drugs, for
education and training and treatment and
also to try to crack down on people who are
importing these drugs into our country.
That's why we're doing that. That's why we
passed the family and medical leave law, the
symbol of being a successful parent and a
successful worker. Why should you lose your
job if your kid gets sick? Why should you
do that—and you've got to go home and take
care of them? Why we want to immunize
all the children in this country under the age
of 2 and why we bailed out a very sick pen-
sion system in America and sav ed 8'/a million
jeople's retirements and protected 40 milion other people's retirement up the road—
because those are all family values to me.
And we have, as a result, 7 million jobs.
2 /2 million new homeowners, 1V2 million
new businesses, the largest number of new
millionaires in a 2-year period in history. Unemployment's down. Inflation's down. African-American unemployment's below 10
percent for the first time since the Vietnam
war. And people are not working at fighting.
In almost every major area of this countrv,
the crime rate is down. And divorce is down.
The country is beginning to come back together.
If that's true, why aren't we happv? Because many people are still, in fact, less secure. And many of our families are less secure, because underneath those statistics, the
rising tide is not lifting all boats. And a huge
number of people are being left out of this
nice picture. And it's going to affect all the
rest of us, just like any other family.
You know, I'm really proud of my little
brother, but he once had a terrible drug
problem, and it affected all the rest of us.
We didn't get off scot-free because we didn't
find a way to solve this problem. It wasn't
his problem; it was our problem. That's the
way it is with America. It's our problem.
When companies—their profits are up and
they're still" downsizing and laying people off,
that's our problem. That's our problem.
When we see people losing their health care
even though they still got jobs—the only
place—we're the only rich country in the
world where that's happening—that's our
problem. When people are faced with dealing with their parents or educating their children, that would be our problem, not just
their problem. What's happening with crime
and drugs is that the overall statistics are
going down, but the rate of random, violent
crime associated by very young teenagers is
going way up. And people feel that, and it
scares them. And it's our problem. The rate
of random, careless, casual drug use is going
up, even though a lot of the statistics are
going down. Young, young teenagers are in
big trouble in this country.
1
Now, we've got to decide how to deal with
it. I f all we do is preach, we can play on
Administration of \
our anxiety and our
one from another,
shrinking economic
wonderfullv success!
it won't solve anvtl
other set of election
ter. People vent thei
fears and their an
changes.
So you see it todaj
American family v <
v
weren't for the'imn
for the people on wt
the affirmative actior
money to people w
it weren't for the G(
our money away.
Now, what I want
thing I said about affii
problems in immigrat
ness spending monev
We should not—peo
to get into this coun
be leaped over by pec
because they can get
our administration ha
sealing our borders an
grants back and peo
criminal justice syste
gaily than anybody has
It is true that peop
fare if they can also
true. And we have do
ministration in histon
welfare to work. It's
before, we have to n
the affirmative action
keep it and make it wor
And finally, it's true
Government. But our i
more out than anybod)
The point I want to n
that, it still won't solve
you deal with these f i
of the American famil)
damental economic pro
fundamental social prol
we deal with them toget
job is. We need to sta
members, do our part a
gations are.
So let me say—the <
do this at the American
�iam J. Clinton, 1995
id saved 8V2 million
I protected 40 milnent up the road—
mily values to me.
iult, 7 million jobs,
wners, l /2 million
est number of new
iriod in history. Unlation's down. Afri/fnent's below 10
: since the Vietnam
working at fighting,
rea of this countrv,
nd divorce is down.
y to come back tol
in't we happy? Betill, in fact, less seamilies are less se1 those statistics, the
I boats. And a huge
;ing left out of this
ing to affect all the
ler familv.
proud of my little
ad a terrible drug
'. all the rest of us.
e because we didn't
problem. It wasn't
Droblem. That's the
5 our problem,
ir profits are up and
id laying people off,
lat's our problem,
ng their health care
got jobs—the only
ich countrv' in the
ipening—that's our
ire faced with dealeducating their chil• problem, not just
ppening with crime
iverall statistics are
of random, violent
voung teenagers is
iie feel that, and it
• iroblrm. The rate
a drug use is going
if the statistics are
ng teenagers are in
:
de how to deal with
h, we can play on
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995 I Aug. 9
our anxiety and our anger, and we can divide
one from another, and we can fight over a
shrinking economic pie. And it may be a
wonderfully successful electoral strategy, but
it won't solve anything. We go through another set of elections where nothing gets better. People vent their steam and express their
fears and their anger, but nothing ever
changes.
So you see it today. People say, "Well, the
American family would be all right if it
weren't for the immigrants or if it weren't
for the people on welfare or if it weren't for
the affirmative action program giving all the
money to people who aren't qualified or if
it weren't for the Government throwing all
our money away.
Now, what I want to say to you is the same
thing I said about affirmative action. We have
problems in immigration. We've got no business spending money on illegal immigrants.
We should not—people who wait for years
to get into this country lawfully should not
be leaped over by people who just cross over
because they can get in. That's not right. And
our administration has put more effort into
sealing our borders and sending illegal immigrants back and people that come into the
criminal justice system who aren't here legally than anybody has in a long time.
It is true that people shouldn't be on welfare if they can also be working. That's also
true. And we have done more than any administration in history to move people from
welfare to work. It's also true that, as I said
before, we have to make some changes in
the affirmative action program so we can
keep it and make it work right. That's all true.
And finally, it's true that there is waste in
Government. But our administration has cut
more out than anybody has in over 20 years.
The point I want to make is, if you do all
that, it still won't solve the problems unless
vou deal with these fundamental problems
of the American familv: What are the fundamental economic problems? What are the
fundamental social problems? And how can
we deal with them together? That's what our
job is. We need to start acting like familv
members, do our part and ask what our obligations are.
So let me say—the other day I tried to
do this at the American Federation of Teach-
1405
ers convention. I'm going to try again. Here's
what I think the family values of America
in 1995 ought to be and what we can do
about them in Government. And then you
ask yourself, what can you do about them?
Number one, if you were running a family
right, you wouldn't saddle your kids with unnecessary debt. In other words, if you borrow
money, you're borrowing it to buy a house,
finance an education, build a new business,
but you wouldn't borrow it to go out to eat
on the weekend. That's what this country's
been doing. We ought to balance the budget.
It's the right thing to do.
But if you're running a family right you'd,
first and foremost, try to take care of your
children. Now, our children—[applause]—
our children don't need to balance the budget on their backs. We don't have to cut Head
'Start or college loans and make it more expensive to educate the children to balance
the budget. We can do them both.
The third thing that you want your family
to do is to take care of your parents. I mean,
after all, they raised you, right? And in the
American family, we decided a long time ago
we would take care of our parents from middle class and lower middle class people and
even through pretty well-to-do people, largely through Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare pays for hospital care, and then if you
buy into the second part of it, it pays for
doctor visits, a number of other things. And
Medicaid pays for people who have to go into
nursing homes. That's about two-thirds of the
cost; that's how we pay for it.
Now, we don't have to balance the budget
by exploding the cost of Medicare to ordinary
peop e. You know 75 percent of the people
on Medicare are living on incomes of under
$25,000. We don't have to increase their premiums, their co-pays, their deductibles to
make it so they don't have enough money
to live on. We don't have to make their children pay even more than they're already pav ing in the payroll tax. All the children are
paying for Medicare now; they're paving for
it in the payroll tax. We don't have to make
them pay more, which means that they will
have—how are they going to educate their
kids if they have to pay twice through Medi-
�1406
Aug. 9 / Administration of William). Clinton, 1995
So I'm telling you, do we have to make
some changes in Medicare? Yeah, we do.
Why? Because we're living longer and more
of us are getting older. But do we have to
absolutely bankrupt the elderly people in this
countrv' to balance the budget? No, we don't.
And we shouldn't do it. It violates our family
values.
What's the fourth thing we've got to do?
I already said it. In the world we're living
in today, most people do not have an option,
they have to work. We spent a lot of time
and energy trving to get people from welfare
to work. Most people are trying to find work.
Most people on welfare want to go to work.
Most people in jobs are trying to keep the
one they've got or get a better one. Isn't that
right? That's the normal thing in life. So the
problem most people have is, how am I going
to keep my job or get a better one and be
a good parent? How can I do the right thing
by our children? So what should we do?
We should keep the family and medical
leave law, for one thing. It's a good law. We
should make it possible for everybody who
works 40 hours a week and has a child in
the home not to be in poverty. If people leave
welfare and they show up for work every day
and they've got kids in the house, what kind
of message does it send to them if they're
in poverty? It's not the right message. So in
1993, we changed the tax law, and we said,
we're going to give a tax credit, a working
family tax credit. Today, for every family of
four in America with an income of $28,000
a year or less, the tax bill is $1,000 lower
than it was before I took office because we
don't believe people who work 40 hours a
week and have kids should be in poverty. We
should increase that program. The last thing
we should do is do what some people want
to do and cut back on that program. We
should reward people who are doing their
best at working and parenting.
We ought to change the health care system. We're the only country in the world
where working families are losing health care
every year. We ought to change the rules so
that if you change jobs, you don't lose your
health care. If you have somebody in your
family get sick, you cannot be cut off. And
people ought to get a little help to keep their
parents out of nursing homes as well as help
pay for them when they get in them. We
can do that and still balance the budget.
And the last thing we ought to do, I believe'
strongly, is raise the minimum wage. It's too
low. If we don't raise the minimum wage next
year, in terms of its ability to buv things, it
will be at a 40-year low, a 40-v'ear low. I don't
know about you, but my idea of the 21st century' is an exciting, high-tech deal where
there are all these gadgets that I don't even
know how to work, but my daughter and al!
my grandchildren, they'll be working them
like crazy and doing well. My idea of the 21 st
century is not a hard-work, low-wage deadend society. Let's raise the minimum wage.
We can go forward together. That's what
family members do. That's our obligation to
people who are out there doing that kind of
work the rest of us don't want to do. That's
part of our family obligations.
The next thing we ought to do is when
we cut taxes we ought to make it support
families. My tax cut program gives people a
tax cut for raising kids and for educating their
children and themselves, families, pro-family. And we ought to say we know some people are going to lose their jobs in all this
downsizing. It's always happened, and now
it seems to be happening a little more. But
when people lose their jobs, if they're working people, the least we can do is guarantee
them a right to immediately—not to wait
until their unemployment runs out—immediately, immediately get more education.
And I have proposed a GI bill for America's
workers that would allow any unemployed
person in the country that loses a job to get
a voucher worth $2,500 or so a year and take
it to the local community college for up to
2 years to get education and training. That's
a family value. That's a family value.
just a couple of other things. I believe—
you know, in our family, we were raised—
I was raised in the South. You can tell by
the way I talk, especially after I'm around
you for a while and get in a good humor.
[Laughter] We were raised to love the land,
to love the water, to believe that we had to
live in harmony with it, to cut the trees in
a way that there'd still be trees a generation
from now, to till the land in a way that there
would still be topsoil for our grandchildren.
That's what we were raised to do. And 1 be-
Administratiim i>f
lieve part of our
teaching our )eopl(
merit. And I < on't n
sion in Washington
protections for the
public health and sa
water, clean air. I
don't understand th;
And the last thing
to me that the Am
be focusing on socia
affect our childrei
What are our obligat
I need your help I
much the Governn
there are things the <
were, most of ns, r;;
seven deadly sins v
Pride, lust, gluttony
envy. Anger and gluti
I have to work on a
We've all got our little
But I would like t
are four things that ai
dren that could be de
lence; the problem of
voung fathers as well
smoking—something
think about, 1 want tc
bit; and drugs. And ]
to think about the chil
damentally the device
petuate ourselves. Th
dren. They're organi:
And nobody in all of 1
come up with an appr
stitute. Jesus said, " I
come to me and do n
such belongs the kingd
When thev come, v
U . " I f a child asks for
him a stone? I f he ask
give him a serpent? I
would you give him a «
the kids of this count
whole lot of them.
Look at violence. I
countrv' a child dies of,
year in Washington v
honor student just sta;
shot down because he
in the middle of two ga
Homicide is the lea<
�'iam J. Clinton, 1995
y get in them. We
ce the budget,
ught to do, I believe
imum wage. It's too
minimum wage next
ity to buy things, it
. 40-year low. I don't
idea of the 21st cen;h-tech deal where
its that I don't even
my daughter and all
11 be working them
. My idea o f t h e 21st
)rk, low-wage dead:he minimum wage,
gether. That's what
t's our obligation to
e doing that kind of
t want to do. That's
ions.
jght to do is when
to make it support
gram gives people a
d for educating their
;, families, pro-famwe know some peoleir jobs in all this
happened, and now
g a little more. But
obs, if they're workcan do is guarantee
liately—not to wait
nt runs out—imme;t more education.
Zl bill for America's
iw anv unemploved
at loses a job to get
jr so a vear and take
ty college for up to
and training. That's
mily value,
things. I believe—
we were raised—
th. You can tell by
y after I'm around
in a good humor,
ed to love the land,
ieve that we had to
to cut the trees in
• trees a generation
in a way that there
our grandchildren,
ed to do. And I be-
Administration
of William J. Clinton, 1995 I Aug. 9
lieve part of our family values should be
teaching our people to preserve our environment. And I don't understand this new obsession in Washington with ripping out all the
protections for the environment and for the
public health and safety, for clean food, clean
water, clean air. I don't understand that. I
don't understand that.
And the last thing I want to say is, it seems
to me that the American family has got to
be focusing on social problems we have that
affect our children especially, especially.
What are our obligations there? And on these
I need your help because there's only so
much the Government can do, although
there are things the Government can do. We
were, most of us, raised to know what the
seven deadly sins vvere. Remember that?
Pride, lust, gluttony, sloth, avarice, anger,
envv. Anger and gluttony: Those are the two
I have to work on all the time. [Laughter]
We've all got our little list, don't we?
But I would like to point out that there
are four things that are threatening our children that could be deadly sins to them: violence; the problem of teen pregnancy, for the
v oung fathers as well as the young mothers;
smoking—something people don't often
think about. I want to talk about that a little
bit: and drugs. And I want to say we have
to think about the children. Families are fundamentally the device through which we perpetuate ourselves. They're really about children. They're organized to raise children.
And nobody in all of human history has ever
come up with an appropriate, adequate substitute. Jesus said, "Let the little children
come to me and do not hinder them, for to
such belongs the kingdom of heaven."
When they come, what do you do? Luke
11. " I f a child asks for bread, would you give
him a stone? I f he asks for a fish, would vou
give him a serpent? I f he asks for an egg,
would vou give him a scorpion?" That's what
the kids of this country are being given, a
w hole lot of them.
Look at violence. Every 2 hours in this
countrv a child dies of a gunshot wound. Last
vear in Washington we had a 13-year-old
honor student just standing at the bus stop
shot down because he just happened to be
in the middle of two gangs that vvere fighting.
Homicide is the leading cause of death
- : i V^».,V, "v.:-"
1407
among African-American males between the
ages of 15 and 24. The number of people
arrested for murder is going down among
those older than 25, but going up for juveniles and young adults. The number of juveniles—juveniles—arrested for murder increased 168 percent between 1984 and 1993.
In one of our newspapers the other day
there was this incredible story about a 16year-old boy who shot a 12-year-old boy dead
because he thought he was showing him disrespect. All this boy's friends, the 12-yearold boy's friends, said that's the way he treated everybody, he was a jokester. The 16-yearold felt insecure. They had one incident,
nothing happened. They had another incident; he pulled out the gun and shot him
when he was running awav and then stood
over his body and emptied the gun into his
body.
Now, this happened just a couple of days
after there was this great national survey, a
very fascinating survey of young gang members in which two-thirds of these young men
honestly said, quite openly, they thought it
was all right to shoot somebody who
disrespected you. I f that's all right I'd be
jlum out of bullets; the whole coimtry would
>e. [Laughter] We're laughing, but this is
deadly serious. How many of us—how many
times were we raised with, when you get mad
count to 10 before you open your mouth?
Don't you say that; don't you do that? That's
how we vvere raised up. Who's telling these
kids to count to 10?
What's happening out there? How can
two-thirds of the kids who belong to these
gangs think it's okay to shoot somebody for
some word they say? Whatever happened to
sticks and stones can break mv bones, but
words will never hurt me? Whatever happened to people being told to define themselves from the inside out, not from the outside in? Whatever happened to all that?
I'm doing what I can. Look, when we
passed that crime bill last vear a lot of Members of Congress literally gave up their seats
in Congress and gave up their careers to vote
for that crime bill, because it banned assault
weapons. And they were taken out. I'm telling you, the NRA took them out in the last
election. And they did it for your children.
Most of these people came from rural dis-
�1408
Aug. 9 / Administration of Willmin}. Clinton, 7995
Adininistration of Wi
tricts where their voters didn't understand
and tliey could be stampeded because they
didn't know anybody with an assault weapon.
And they figured if somebody bought one
and wanted to take it to a shooting contest
they ought to have a right to. And they were
spooked, and a lot of them voted against
these good Members of Congress. But they
did it for our kids who are living in these
cities where these kids are being gunned
down. They said, " I f it costs me my career
to get the uzis out of the high school, I'll
give it up."
Now, that was a great thing. That was an
important thing. And that bill gave some
money to community groups for crime prevention programs and for job programs and
for things to give these kids something to say
yes to. We're doing what we can, but you
know and I know we can put 100,000 more
police on the street, we can ban assault weapons, we can have the Brady bill, we can have
these funds for community programs—and
I hope we can save them, by the way, in this
Congress—but the parents still have to be
there, or if they're not there, the churches,
somebody has got to be there to teach these
kids right from wrong. Somebody has got to
say, " I don't care what they call you, it is
better to live to be 70 years old and have
children and grandchildren and have a useful
full life. What difference does it make what
they call you?" Somebody has to be there
to do that. And we've all got to do that together.
Yes, there are some other things we can
do. The other day—we're in a big argument
in Washington now—1 think we're going to
win this one because it's not partisan—about
the influence that our culture has. You know,
are kids exposed to too much violence in the
movies and principally on television, because
that's how most people watch it? And I think
the answer is, yes, they are. Of course they
are.
But the answer to this is not simply to condemn but to ask the people who are making
these movies to help us and to ask the people
who are showing them to us to help us. And
now, with all the wonders of technology, we
know that everybody who has cable TV can
get something called the V-chip which would
allow every family to determine which chan-
nels or even programs within channels they
don't want their little children to watch. Kids
get numb to violence. If bv the time vou're
6 or 7 years old, vou've seen thousands and
thousands and thousands of people shot
down on the street, it numbs you. So we
ought to pass this law and retjuire the V-chip
and give families the right to program for
their children. It's a familv right.
But in the end, we have to do this together.
And if we don't deal with this, all the rest
of this stuff is just like whistling "Dixie" because you can't bring one of these kids back.
In this life, you cannot see them again once
they're dead. So we must—this is something
we must commit to do together. And this
ought not to be a partisan issue. It ought not
to be a racial issue. It ought not to be a regional issue. We have to do something about
the rapid growth in violence among our verv
young people.
The second thing I want to talk about a
minute is teen pregnancy. Every year a million young girls between the ages of 15 and
19 become pregnant. Some of them are married, but most of them aren't. Eighty percent
ofthe children bom to unwed teenagers who
dropped out of school, 80 percent of them
live in poverty. It is literally true that if teenagers who are unmarried didn't have babies
and all babies were bom into families where
at least one person both had a job and a highschool education, you would cut the povertv
rate by more than 50 percent in America.
The new poor in America are young mothers
and their ittle children.
In the last 2 /2 yearsAve're^vorked hard
on this. And our welfare—reform program
sends a clear signal to young people. I believe
if people arc going to draw welfare when thev
are young and unmarried, we should say, this
is not so you can go out and set up your
own household and perpetuate this. Unless
you have a bad situation at home, you ought
to have to live at home and stay in school
or stay at work to take the check.
And I think we should hold fathers more
accountable. There's a lot of child abuse in
teen pregnancy. At least half the babies bom
to teenage girls are fathered by men who are
20 or older. That's child abuse. That's not
right. It's not right. And even young men—
even young men—there was a young man
1
in our hometown in A
here who made a n
child. Me was a vom
vou know, that kid gc
school and went to wc
school went back to \
monev to the child. \
doing that. That's the
have got to have hap
all of us. for verv, ver
enforcement. We cann
won't take care of thei
hundred thousand pe
w elfare if w e just en fo
laws of the United St
we need to be for that.
But 1 will sav again,
lem with a Government
people behave and wl
sonal. personal, one-onance. I am working to
all sectors of our society
But what I want to sav
things that work. The T
tion here working with l
<
right here in Charlotte
ference. Dr. Henry Fo;
ture" program has mac
And I want to sav, I
you for standing behini
is a good man, and I'm
coming here. And I'm
to keep him involved in
he has proved—I saw i
I saw those kids from 1
in Nashv ille, Tennessee,
have a nickel to their r
on a bus and they left
what they vvere doing,
Washington to tell the I
they ought not to let polil
ter from becoming Sui
cause he had changed
ended the epidemic of I
violence and had given th
a better future. That's v
of.
The same thing is tru
just give you this. In the 1
use among 8th, m t ai
percent of high school s
illegal drug by the time
senior year. Marijuana, I
�Uam J. Clinton, 1995
Ar/ministrfltion o f William J. Clinton, 1995 I Aug. 9
/ithin channels they
Idren to watch. Kids
' by the time you're
seen thousands and
ds of people shot
numbs you. So we
d require, the V-chip
ght to program for
X right.
e to do this together,
ith this, all the rest
whistling "Dixie" bes of these kids back,
ee them again once
t—this is something
together. And this
n issue. It ought not
jght not to be a redo something about
nee among our very
/ant to talk about a
y. Every year a mili the ages of 15 and
ne of them are mar•en't. Eighty percent
nwed teenagers who
80 percent of them
illy true that if teeni didn't have babies
into families where
lad a job and a highDuld cut the poverty
jercent in America,
a are young mothers
we're worked hard
re reform program
mg people. I believe
»v welfare when they
, we should say, this
jt and set up vour
actuate this. Unless
at home, you ought
and stay in school
check.
1 hold fathers more
)t of child abuse in
lalf the babies born
•ed by men who are
1 abuse. That's not
even young men—
was a voung man
in our hometown in Arkansas before I moved
here who made a mistake and fathered a
child. He was a young man in school. But
you know, that kid got up every day before
school and went to work and every day after
school went back to work and gave all that
money to the child. We need more people
doing that. That's the kind of thing that we
have got to have happen. We need to be,
all of us, for very, very tough child support
enforcement. We cannot tolerate people who
won't take care of their own children. Eighthundred thousand people could move off
welfare i f we just enforced the child support
laws of the United States of America. And
we need to be for that.
But I will say again, 1 can't solve this problem with a Government fix. This is about how
people behave and whether they get personal, personal, one-on-one kinds df reassurance. I am working to get all the leaders of
all sectors of our society involved in this fight.
But what I want to say is we know there are
things that work. The Teen Health Connection here working with low-income teenagers
right here in Charlotte has made a real difference. Dr. Henry Foster's " I Have A Future" program has made a real difference.
And I want to say, by the way, I thank
vou for standing behind Henry Foster. He
is a good man, and I'm glad you've got him
coming here. And I'm going to do my best
to keep him involved in this struggle because
he has proved—I saw those young people.
I saw those kids from the housing projects
in Nashv ille, Tennessee. A lot of them didn't
have a nickel to their names, and thev got
on a bus and thev left their lives, thev left
what thev vvere doing, and they rode to
W ashington to tell the United States Senate
they ought not to let politics keep Henrv Foster from becoming Surgeon General, because he had changed their lives. He had
ended the epidemic of teen pregnancy and
violence and had giv en them a chance to start
;< better future. That's what we need more
of.
The same thing is true of drugs. Let me
just give vou this. In the latest survey of drug
use among 8th. lOtff, and 12th graders, 43
percent of high school seniors had used an
illegal drug by the time they reached their
senior vear. Marijuana, LSD. inhalants, like
1409
glue and aerosol—that stuff people did when
I was barely out of high school—all these
things are coming back. And the feeling that
these drugs are dangerous is going down in
these surveys. Same people, two-thirds of
them who say we can go out and shoot somebody that disrespects us say, "Oh, this stuffs
not dangerous."
Now, we are now doing more than a National Government's ever done to fight drugs,
based on cutting off the source in foreign
governments. You probably saw in the press
this week another drug kingpin busted in Colombia. We work hard on that, and we are
making real progress on that. But you also
have to do things here at home. You've got
to punish the real serious offenders here at
home. But you have to have some sort of
treatment, education, and prevention programs as well. Therefore, I am opposed to
these efforts in the Congress to balance the
budget by cutting 23 million students out of
the safe schools and drug-free schools program.
You know, I bet a lot of you had your children come home and tell you how much they
liked their D.A.R.E. officer in the school
talking about staying off drugs. A lot of these
police officers that are going into these
schools are the best role models a lot of these
young kids have. And we need to support
this sort of thing. We don't need to walk away
from it. And you have to help. You have got
to make sure that everv- single, solitary school
in this country has a good, safe and drugfree schools program. You have got to do
that. Whatever we do in Washington, you
have got to do that.
The last thing I want to talk about is smoking. And I want to tell vou why I want to
talk about it. I know that tobacco is verv important to the economy of this fine State. And
I've worked hard to help the economy of this
and every other State. And there are a lot
of wonderful people in this countrv who
make a living as tobacco farmers and their
families have for a couple of hundred vears.
That's important to understand.
But we cannot pretend that we're ignoring
the evidence. One of the greatest threats to
the health of our children is teenage smoking, and it's rising. Listen to this, even- single
dav 3,000 young people become regular
�1410
Aug. 9 / Administration of William]. Clinton, 799:
smokers and nearly 1,000 of them will die
prematurely as a result. For more than a decade, even as adult smoking was dropping, the
smoking rate among high school seniors did
not go down. That was bad enough. But since
1991, the percentage of teenage smokers has
risen steadily and rapidly. There's been a 30percent increase in the 8th graders who
smoke, a 22-percent increase in the number
of 10th graders who smoke, and by the age
of 16, the average teenage smoker is smoking
ever)' day and will not stop. If you wanted
to do something to reduce the cost of health
care, help over the long run to balance the
budget, and increase the health care of
America, having no teenagers smoke would
be the cheapest, easiest, quickest thing you
could ever do to change the whole dynamic
of health care in America.
Now, again I will tell you, it's just like the
drugs and the gangs; the number of teenagers who believe smoking is dangerous is
dropping dramatically. There's a lot more
peer approval. This also is a recipe for disaster. There are some things we can do at the
governmental level, and we'll be talking
about that in the near future. But what I want
to say to you is this is just another example
of where, no matter what you do with the
law, people have to change inside, and somebody has to help them change inside. And
we have to do it in an organized, disciplined
way.
James Baldwin once said, "Children have
never been very good at listening to their elders." As a parent, that's comforting to know.
[Laughter] "But," he said, "they have never
failed to imitate them."
So, I say to you what I said at the beginning. We are on the verge of the 21st century.
It should be America's century. The best days
of this country should be before us. I f we
recognize that we're a family and we're going
forward, up, or down together, we will go
up and forward together.
But we have to ask ourselves, what are our
family values, and what do we in the American familv value, and what are we going to
do about it? Today I've tried to tell you what
I intend to do about it. And I ask you to
say, what are you going to do about it and
how are you going to continue to work.
I want to say a special word of.thanks to
our host pastor, Reverend Diggs, because I
know that he has worked in this communitv
to try to make a difference on these issues.
And so many of you have.
You've got this alliance of these two groups
here meeting todav. We need this kind of
alliance on these problems, the kind of problems that our children are facing at the grassroots level. They know no racial barrier; they
know no income barrier even; they certainly
know no regional barrier. We hav e got to get
over this using family values to drive a stake
between us as American people and let it
lift us up. We have got to do that.
And I ask you to leave here determined
to do what you can to be good preachers and
good Samaritans and good examples, to make
the family of America a place where familv
values lifts us up. pulls us together, and takes
us into the future. We can walk and not faint.
We can run and not grow weary. And if we
do not lose heart, we shall reap.
God bless you all, and thank you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 12:48 p.m. at the
Charlotte Convention Center. In his remarks, he
referred to "Rev. Bennett W. Smith, Sr., president,
and Rev. Gardner C. Taylor, former president.
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. A
portion of these remarks could not be verified because the tape was incomplete.
Memorandum on the President's
Oklahoma City Scholarship Fund
August 9,1995
Memorandum for the Heads of Executive
Departments and Agencies
Subject: The President's OKC Scholarship
Fund
The tragic bombing of the Alfred P.
Murrah Building in Oklahoma Cit)' took 168
lives and permanently damaged many more.
The families of the dead and injured, even
witnesses and rescue workers, had their lives
changed by that irrational and despicable act
ofviolence.
In the aftermath of this national tragedy,
however, we can be proud of the abiding
strength and resilience demonstrated by the
American people. The days and weeks that
followed the explosion witnessed an outpour-
Administration of
ing of love and s
their families as A
gion, and backgro
A number of F<
charities establish
gencv assistance fo
their families. Ho
provision of relie
of the victims, I an
ing for the educat
parent or parents
abled as a resu It
sequently, I have
ployee Education
"FEEA"), a privat
President's OKC
"Scholarship Fund
tered as part of its
solely for the provi
of those children.
The Scholarship
tions from all sourc
contributions will b
efit of the eligible
establish an Advise
financial assistance
Fund, to advise the
bility criteria, and
tion and advice as I
the FEEA may re
Memorandum of
the Director ofthe
agement (OPM) ar
my designee will repointment to the Ac
Those who wish t
arship Fund shouli
FEEA; checks she
President's OKC !
FEEA's mailing ad
West Bowles, Little
The Federal far
'ether in the afterm
jombing, with conti
ing, annual leave, ai
will be just as ger
education of the i
parents were killed i
act.
I urge each of yo
ship Fund and encc
do ikewise.
�n
4
�PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTO
STATEMENT ON TEEN PREGNANCY
ROOSEVELT R O
OM
JANUARY 29, 1996
[Acknowledgements: Secretary Shalala; Senators P e l l , MurTay and
Chafee; Representatives Clement, Schroeder, Stokes, Clayton and
Watt]
I'm pleased t o r e p o r t t o a l l of you today about the progress
being made toward launching a n a t i o n a l e f f o r t t o address the
issue of teen pregnancy.
As I said i n my State of the Union, we are l i v i n g i n an age
of enormous p o s s i b i l i t y . More Americans, from a l l walks of l i f e ,
w i l l have more chances t o b u i l d the f u t u r e of t h e i r dreams than
ever before. Of course, any time of great change brings i t s
share of great challenges as w e l l .
The f i r s t challenge I issued l a s t Tuesday n i g h t was t o
cherish our c h i l d r e n and strengthen America's f a m i l i e s . And i t
i s was no accident t h a t t h i s was the f i r s t challenge I mentioned.
Family i s the foundation of American l i f e . And i f we have
stronger f a m i l i e s , we w i l l have a stronger America.
That i s why we must do a l l we can t o make sure t h a t every
c h i l d who comes i n t o t h i s world has two l o v i n g parents who are
ready t o support and care f o r t h e i r c h i l d . Although the teen
pregnancy r a t e i s down, over one m i l l i o n young women become
^ pregnant every year. And 80% of the babies born t o unwed teen
-^1 mothers who dropped out of high school w i l l l i v e i n poverty.
£
\l
^
^
g
Cj"
^
r
We must a l l work together t o solve t h i s problem. Last year,
i n my State of the Union address, I c a l l e d on Americans across
the country t o j o i n together i n a n a t i o n a l campaign against teen
pregnancy.
Today, I'm pleased t o announce t h a t a group of
prominent Americans have responded and w i l l launch a f u l l - s c a l e
National Campaign t o Reduce Teenage Pregnancy. A dozen people
are ready t o begin t h i s e f f o r t , i n c l u d i n g leaders i n the f i e l d ,
such as C. Everett Koop and David Hamburg of the Carnegie
Corporation. Others who have agreed t o play a r o l e include
former governor Tom Kean, former senator Warren Rudman, Charlotte
Beers, the Chairman of Ogilvy and Mather, Urban League President
Hugh P r i c e , Whoopi Goldberg and MTV President Judy McGrath. And
I'd l i k e t o e s p e c i a l l y thank Dr. Isabel S a w h i l l , of the Urban
I n s t i t u t e , f o r her work i n spearheading t h i s e f f o r t .
This i s a serious, b i - p a r t i s a n e f f o r t t o address a d i f f i c u l t
problem i n a substantive manner. Many of them w i l l be meeting
tomorrow i n New York, and i n the next month, t h i s group w i l l be
up and running. And on February
, when the N a t i o n a l Campaign
t o Reduce Teenage Pregnancy holds i t s f i r s t board meeting i n
Washington D.C, I ' d l i k e t o i n v i t e them t o the White House t o
-commend t h e i r commitment t o t h i s important work.
\
�Government can—and must ]Jlay-»a p a r t i n t h i s e f f o r t .
That's
why today I'm pleased t o announce t h a t Dr. Henry Foster has
agreed t o serve as my senior advisor on t h i s issue, and w i l l be
my l i a i s o n t o the work of the National Campaign. His own program
i n N a s h v i l l e i s a model of the type of community-based e f f o r t we
are hoping t o develop throughout t h i s country.
^
But u l t i m a t e l y , "-Cftlg campafgrr-muGte bc a r e v o l u t i o n of the
heart. We must a l l work t o i n s t i l l i n every young man and woman
^tbe sense of personal r e s p o n s i b i l i t y . They need t o know t h a t
leaving a c h i l d . i s not the r i g h t choice f o r a teen t o make.
/I -iKc LeAt AJLSp- fl^voen ion Aj&ousKf > cr tca^Kc*
This message noodo t o bc reinforced' t o our c h i l d r e n ^ ! 1 t h e
,£im£. And t h i c mocoagQ muot bo oarriod-by i n d i v i d u a l s ana \>^_ _^y>jukiCJV
community organizations, l i k e the ones represented here today.
.
These groups, whether they are s o c i a l clubs, mentoring programs ^p^^
or school-based classes, bear the primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of
y\^>^f t
c a r r y i n g «i^s message t o teenagers.
Wa nood t o make burti uvmy teenageir Itidi'iltj Lhlb mesaage: Do
become pregnant or f a t h e r a c h i l d before you are married,
.fijU-S* ** w i t h school and are ready t o support your c h i l d .
s
-
7
16
This i s the way we need t o meet our challenges — by working
together — on n a t i o n a l and l o c a l l e v e l s , i n f a m i l i e s and i n
communities, and i n the p u b l i c and the p r i v a t e sectors.
The era of b i g government i s over, but we can't go back t o
the era where we simply t e l l people t o fend f o r themselves.
We
have t o move forward t o the era of a l l Americans working t o meet
our challenges together.
I'd l i k e t o thank a l l of you f o r being here today. I f we
a l l work together t o solve the problem of teen pregnancy, we w i l l
make a d i f f e r e n c e .
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Michael Waldman
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Michael Waldman was Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting from 1995-1999. His responsibilities were writing and editing nearly 2,000 speeches, which included four State of the Union speeches and two Inaugural Addresses. From 1993 -1995 he served as Special Assistant to the President for Policy Coordination.</p>
<p>The collection generally consists of copies of speeches and speech drafts, talking points, memoranda, background material, correspondence, reports, handwritten notes, articles, clippings, and presidential schedules. A large volume of this collection was for the State of the Union speeches. Many of the speech drafts are heavily annotated with additions or deletions. There are a lot of articles and clippings in this collection.</p>
<p>Due to the size of this collection it has been divided into two segments. Use links below for access to the individual segments:<br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=43&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2006-0469-F+Segment+1">Segment One</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=43&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2006-0469-F+Segment+2">Segment Two</a></p>
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Michael Waldman
Office of Speechwriting
Date
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1993-1999
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2006-0469-F
Extent
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Segment One contains 1071 folders in 72 boxes.
Segment Two contains 868 folders in 66 boxes.
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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paper
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Teen Pregnancy - 1/29/96
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Office of Speechwriting
Michael Waldman
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Box 14
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36404"> Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7763296">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
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2006-0469-F Segment 2
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White House Staff and Office Files
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William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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7763296
42-t-7763296-20060469F-Seg2-014-010-2015