Title V State Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE)

About

The Colorado Title V State Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Grant Program is part of a comprehensive approach to adolescent well-being that seeks to support Colorado youth in developing and navigating healthy relationships and in making decisions that result in reduced rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. SRAE programs use a Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework as part of a risk avoidance strategy to help participants develop healthy life skills, increase individual protective factors that reduce risks, make healthy decisions, engage in healthy relationships, and set goals that lead to self-sufficiency and marriage before engaging in sexual activity. SRAE programs teach youth personal responsibility, self-regulation, goal setting, healthy decision-making, a focus on the future, and the prevention of youth risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol use without normalizing teen sexual activity.

According to Colorado’s Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards, by graduation students should be able to apply knowledge and skills necessary to make personal decisions that promote healthy relationships and sexual and reproductive health. A comprehensive approach to health is at the forefront of Colorado’s Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards, which include sexual risk avoidance education throughout all grade levels. Through the awards from this grant program, CDE supports local efforts in ways that individual communities deem appropriate to provide comprehensive sexual health education to youth.

CDE awards competitive subgrants to Community-Based Organizations that provide Out-of-School Time programming to implement standards-aligned and evidence-based or -informed Sexual Risk Avoidance Education programming that uses a Positive Youth Development framework.

Statutory Authority

The federally funded Title V State Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Program is managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (HHS-ACF) and authorized and funded by Section 510 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 710), as amended by Section 50502 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, Public Law (Pub. L.) No. 115-123, and extended by the CARES Act, 2020 (Pub. L. No. 116-136) to enable states, territories, or other entities to implement education exclusively on sexual risk avoidance. Visit the Family and Youth Services Bureau’s Title V State Sexual Risk Avoidance Education: Fact Sheet  for more information about this federal program. CDE holds the SRAE State Grant. 

Subrecipient Resources

Fiscal Management 

Program Management 

General 

Professional Development

The Exchange serves as a national resource hub for SRAE,an Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program. Subrecipients, partners, and stakeholders may use The Exchange to learn, connect, and create materials to increase the visibility and impact of their efforts to prevent pregnancy among vulnerable youth. Only SRAE subrecipients have access to resources on The Exchange. Contact your State SRAE coordinator to be granted access (see contact information below).

Spotlight on The Exchange resources for new staff:

• SEXUAL RISK AVOIDANCE EDUCATION (SRAE) 101 (2-part “e-learning module”)
• PROMOTING HEALTHY FUTURES FOR YOUTH: A PROGRAM MODEL FOR SRAE (report, PDF)

Relevant state policy and standards

• Colorado’s Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards

• Policies and Guidelines for Colorado Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Standards and Instruction

Relevant databases of evidence-based programs

• Health and Human Services' Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review

• University of Colorado, Boulder’s Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development

Monitoring and Evaluation (forthcoming)

Current Colorado Title V SRAE Subrecipients