Funding Opportunity: Advancing Equity in Adolecent Health through Evidence
Teen Outreach Program® (TOP)® Alignment
This funding is intended for organizations to advance health equity for adolescents, their family, and communities through the replication and scaling of medically accurate and age-appropriate evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs that have been proven effective through rigorous evaluation to reduce teenage pregnancy, behavioral risk factors underlying teenage pregnancy, or other associated risk factors. Evidence-based program (EBP) are programs that have been proven effective through rigorous evaluation to reduce teenage pregnancy, behavioral risk factors underlying teenage pregnancy, or other associated risk factors.
To realize this goal applicants must demonstrate their proposed application:
- Focus on areas of greatest need and disparities related to preventing teen pregnancy and STIs and promoting positive youth development.
- Replicate at least 1 EBP(s) in 3 or more unique settings.
- Establish a network of partners to maximize youth participation and ensure a continuum of supports to meet the needs of youth.
- Develop and implement a Monitoring & Improvement Plan, to include collection of performance measures and other data to monitor fidelity & quality and engage in continuous quality improvement.
- Meaningful engagement of youth, parents/caregivers & community, including youth as decision makers.
Below is a helpful guide in determining how Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program can fulfill the areas that must be demonstrated to write a winning grant application.
Please note: This document is intended to help support those individuals applying for the opportunity, but is not designed or intended to be submitted as a complete Project Narrative. Wyman is not available to write or review grant submissions on behalf of applying organizations, but can refer services of grant writers if requested.
Download the PDF here
Funding Opportunity Details
Replicates an Evidence-Based Program (EBP) per the criteria established in HHS TPP Evidence Review (TPPER) protocol ver 6.0 with at least 1 EBP demonstrating impact on sexual risk behaviors using evidence of effectiveness per TPPER.
Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program (TOP) promotes the positive development of adolescents through curriculum-guided, interactive group discussions; positive adult guidance and support; and community service learning. TOP has met the criteria established in TPPER protocol version 6.0 with evidence from high quality randomized control trials showing that TOP reduces the likelihood of sexual activity and teen pregnancy.
Ensures areas of greatest need are targeted in an effort to advance equity and in reaching optimal health and preventing teen pregnancy and STIs.
TOP is delivered by trained adult facilitators across a nine-month period to groups of teens (called “TOP Clubs”). TOP is designed to meet the developmental needs of middle and high school teens and can be implemented in a variety of settings, including in-school, after-school, through community-based organizations or in systems and institutional settings, including residential facilities. The TOP Curriculum is focused on key topics related to adolescent health and development, including building social, emotional, and life skills; developing a positive sense of self; and connecting with others. Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program (TOP) has been implemented successfully with diverse communities and in both urban and rural environments. Independent research reviews by federal agencies and organizations have recognized TOP for its evidence-base.
Establish a network of partners to maximize youth participation and ensure a continuum of supports to meet the needs of youth.
Partners utilizing Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program are able to replicate the program across a large geographical area through collaboration with provider organizations. Providers can implement the program in their own communities, serving a variety of settings. Additionally, providers, and/or stakeholders within a partner network who are not able to successfully implement TOP may still take full advantage of the positive youth development and social and emotional trainings that are available to partner networks from Wyman. These trainings are designed to support youth development professionals in maximizing supports and opportunities for young people regardless of the program intervention they are using. These trainings strengthen and help expand upon knowledge needed to promote optimal health among teens in a variety of settings.
The project is executed in an equitable, safe, supportive and inclusive environment using trauma-informed and positive youth development approaches; ensure all materials used are age appropriate, medically accurate, culturally and linguistically appropriate, trauma-informed and inclusive of all youth.
To ensure fidelity, Wyman utilizes a comprehensive replication partnership approach with organizations implementing TOP, which is framed in an implementation science approach that advances programs effectiveness through impactful training, monitoring, evaluation and coaching for quality program implementation.
TOP has a strong history of successful implementation with youth from diverse cultural, ethnic and racial identity backgrounds. The TOP Curriculum was designed to be culturally competent, and the curriculum’s Facilitation Guide includes content on “Cultural and Human Diversity in Facilitation.”
The TOP Curriculum is designed to meet the developmental needs of middle and high school aged teens. Each content area of the curriculum (Decision Making, Relationships, Self-Understanding, etc.) includes lessons across three developmental levels- Foundational, Intermediate and Advanced. Foundational lessons introduce basic concepts and ideas. Foundational lessons are generally most appropriate for youth in 6th-8th grade. Intermediate lessons build upon basic concepts and ideas and include opportunities to explore these more deeply. Intermediate lessons are generally most appropriate for youth in 8th-10th grade. Advanced lessons include discussions of advanced concepts and content, including content and scenarios specific to the transition to adulthood. Advanced lessons are generally most appropriate for youth in 10th- 12th grade. It is not necessary to begin TOP at the Foundational level; all three levels are written to be accessible to youth without prior TOP experience. The TOP Curriculum set includes all three levels, so partners can select lessons as appropriate for participants.
Wyman is committed to the medical accuracy of the TOP Curriculum. The curriculum undergoes regular medical reviews, and as necessary, edits are made to ensure the curriculum continues to be medically accurate. When edits are made, partners are informed and edits are posted on Wyman Connect, Wyman’s permission-based web portal for partners, for download. The most recent medical accuracy edits responded to a 2019 medical review by the federal Family and Youth Services Bureau, another medial accuracy review is currently underway, and updates will be available by end of 2023.
The TOP Curriculum is written from a trauma-informed perspective, utilizing the Office of Adolescent Health’s “A Checklist for Integrating a Trauma-Informed Approach into Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs,” among other resources. TOP facilitator training includes content on creating safe space and building supportive relationships. The curriculum’s introductory lessons include youth setting group guidelines to create physical and emotional safety in TOP Club. Lessons with content that may be triggering include acknowledgement of the lesson’s sensitivity during the lesson introduction, as well as prompts for facilitators to consider the potential sensitivity, to be available to participants for additional support and to connect participants to additional resources as necessary. Wyman is also available to provide additional trauma awareness training.
Applies the power of youth and community voice to ensure the project is of the highest quality and best fit for the community(ies) and population(s) to be served.
The TOP Curriculum includes 9 content areas and 140 lessons. While sample sequencing is available, partners and facilitators can choose lessons and sequence them in a way that responds to community need and teen interests. One of the core components to Teen Outreach Program is Community Service Learning. CSL allows the youth in the program to have a voice in choosing service projects that are meaningful to them and their communities. Youth choose, plan, and reflect on their service experiences throughout the program year. Each lesson in the curriculum includes time for teens to reflect on the experience of the lesson. Teens are also surveyed annually to provide feedback on program quality. Partners use this feedback to make changes as needed.
Develop and implement a Monitoring & Improvement Plan, to include collection of performance measures and other data to monitor fidelity & quality and engage in continuous quality improvement.
Wyman’s fidelity with flexibility model helps our partners adapt TOP to a variety of environments while achieving impressive outcomes. Fidelity requirements for implementation:
- Partner creates and uses a written Quality Assurance Plan (QAP), which is updated annually.
- Ensure clubs are guided by facilitators who have completed TOP training.
- Maintain a ratio of at least one TOP facilitator per 25 teens (1:25). Many facilitators prefer a ratio of 1:10, 1:15 or 2:25.
- TOP Clubs are planned to include weekly peer group meetings throughout the program cycle.
- Club Program Cycle should be no less than 32 weeks.
- 100% of Clubs deliver a minimum of 25 meetings during a club program cycle.
- TOP Clubs are planned to include sufficient support and opportunities for teens to achieve the required 20 hours of Community Service Learning.
- 75% of teens who have completed TOP complete at least 20 hours of CSL during the club program cycle.
- TOP Clubs are planned to include at least 12 lessons from the TOP Curriculum.
Partners in Wyman’s NN have ongoing access to technical assistance from an assigned Partner Support Manager; in addition to providing ongoing TA, the Partner Support Manager will conduct an annual review of fidelity and quality, our annual Certification Review Process that evaluates and supports the partner in maintaining fidelity to the program model. As a result of this certification process, partners are either certified or placed on an action plan for the next program year that addresses low-performing areas.
Use of the proprietary data collection system, Wyman Connect, enables partners with the ability to easily monitor program progress, to generate instant reports that can be used for program evaluation and quality monitoring, grant writing, as well as disseminating information, celebrating successes, and brainstorming through lessons learned.
When selecting program(s) for replication under this FOA, TPPER’s evidence review protocol 6.0 must be met.
TOP has been reviewed and meets the criteria for an evidence-based program (EBR) established by TPPER, specifically with high quality randomized control trials showing evidence of effectiveness: reduced sexual activity and teen pregnancy (Allen et al., 1997; Daley et al., 2015; Walsh-Buhi et al., 2016).
Questions? Please Contact:
Tori Gale | Director, Partner Development| Wyman’s National Network
Resource Toolkit
An overview of the program and what is included in partnering with Wyman.
This worksheet will help your planning & implementation teams in anticipating hurdles partners often experience in the first year of implementation. The final two pages include budget definitions and sample budgets for implementing the program.
Includes core components of the program, goals & outcomes.
Meeting fidelity of TOP is a requirement. This document will help ensure your implementation plans are aligned to meet fidelity.
Occasionally adaptations to the program fidelity are required to best meet the needs of young people. If you are considering an adaptation to the program fidelity, this is a guide that highlights strategies that have worked for partners.
Explanation of topic areas and developmental levels.
Examples of how lessons from the TOP Curriculum could be sequenced in a TPP environment.
Summary of evidence & recognition for the program.
Summary of research results.
Request a Letter of Support from Wyman
Snapshot of a current TPP Grantee, Sasha Bruce Youthwork in Washington D.C.
Snapshot of a current TPP Grantee, University of Arkansas Medical Sciences in Northwest Arkansas.