The purpose of the Medical Institute (MI) Paso a Paso: Building Healthy Families project is to promote abstinence until marriage among youth aged 12-18 years in 2 independent school districts (ISDs) in El Paso County by providing community-based abstinence education that includes abstinence until marriage and relationship skills training. The goal is to implement community-wide activities to support abstinence education for adolescents and parenting education for adults. The 4 main components are: 1) abstinence-based sex education and relationship skills training for adolescents in Fabens and San Elizario ISDs; 2) parenting and sexual health education for parenting adults (community members and migrant farm workers) in these 2 ISDs; 3) community mobilization activities to support the adolescent and adult programs in each of these ISDs; and, 4) geocoding of births and STIs in adolescents in all of El Paso County.

A community advisory group in each ISD ensures that all community-based abstinence education activities meet the unique cultural and environmental needs of the target population in each community.

Hilda Chavarria
Program Administrator
The Medical Institute
6611 Boeing
El Paso, TX 79925
(915) 780-6522