Family Planning Council: Special Projects

Special ProjectsCircle of CareTeen Work GroupSTD ProgramTraining 3

Welcome to the Special Projects Section of the Family Planning Council!

Established in 1990, the aim of the Special Projects Department is to assist the Family Planning Council in fulfilling its overall mission. Specifically, this department is charged with developing and implementing programs that go beyond conventional family planning services to serve non-traditional clients.

Through various contracts and programs, the Special Projects Department supports both medical services and social services to people living throughout the five county Philadelphia area.

Currently, the Special Projects Department oversees the following programs:

The Healthy Woman Project
Parenting Education Program (PEP)
Healthy Lifestyles Program (HELP)
Abuleas Y Jovenes Project
Childbirth Education

The Healthy Woman Project

This program has been part of the Council's programs since 1995 and is funded through the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the City of Philadelphia Health Department.HealthyWoman provides breast and cervical cancer screening to low-income, uninsured or underinsured women age 40 and over in Philadelphia and Chester county.

Services include:

breast self-exam education
clinical breast exams
mammograms
pelvic exams
pap tests
breast biopsies
case management follow-up

Parenting Education Program (PEP)

PEP is a parenting skills development program for women in the Chester and Delaware County prisons. Specifically, these services are offered to pregnant and parenting inmates in both individual and group counseling sessions.

Topics covered include:

the effects of incarceration on family life,
substance abuse,
domestic violence,
family planning,
prevention of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV,
prenatal care,
and child abuse and neglect prevention.

The program emphasizes positive parenting skills and family re-unification.

Healthy Lifestyles Program (HELP)

HELP is funded by the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium and provides information to incarcerated women in the Chester and Delaware County prisons about STD and HIV transmission.

This program empowers women to engage in risk-reduction sexual practices while incarcerated and upon their release from prison. Group and individual counseling is offered.

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Abuelas Y Jovenes Project

This program is funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. It is a joint program of the Family Planning Council, Congreso De Latinos Unidos and the Center for Intergenerational Learning at Temple University.

The primary focus is to reduce repeat pregnancies, substance abuse, and welfare dependency, and improve parenting skills and education outcomes among pregnant and parenting Latina teens in Philadelphia. Among the innovative program components is the use of an "abuela" or grandmother as a mentor and support person for individual teen mothers or "jovenes".

The Abeulas project is one of ten national demonstration projects.

Childbirth Education

These classes are provided at Mercy Suburban General Hospital in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Classes are offered to pregnant women who are receiving services at the obstetrical clinic at the hospital.

Classes are taught year round and include information on healthy eating, exercise, labor and delivery, post-partum care, and well-baby care.

For more information on these programs or the Special Projects Department, email us at SpecialProjects@familyplanning.org

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