By Center for American Indian Health - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, June 4, 2019.
Nationally, teen pregnancy rates have declined by 67% since peaking in 1991. Yet significant disparities remain. Native American teens have the highest teen birth rate of any U.S. group and 4 in 10 Native American women begin childbearing in adolescence.
Working closely with tribal partners, the Center for American Indian Health (Center) developed Respecting the Circle of Life, a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health program culturally adapted for Native communities. RCL, which serves youth between the ages of 11-19, is the only teen pregnancy prevention program proven to work in Native American communities. The program is now being implemented in settings as diverse as rural Arizona, on the Navajo Nation and—starting this July—the urban industrial core of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Bringing RCL to urban Indians is vital because 7 in 10 American Indian and Alaska Native peoples now live in metropolitan areas. One of the largest urban American Indian populations is in Phillips, Minneapolis.
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