University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work received a $4.8 million grant to renew its recently concluded healthy relationships educational program. The Creating Healthy Adolescents through Meaningful Prevention Services (CHAMPS) will be funded for five years.

The grant given to Kent School by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will help educate 14-19 year olds about preventing pregnancy and STDs.

The program, which will last two Saturdays in the summer, will be facilitated by specific people trained in the pre-approved curriculum. The facilitators will recruit those showing interest in the program and recruit others. Of those who show, they will be randomly split up between the three curriculum. Then after the two Saturdays, each person who attended the camps will be monitored over three months up to 24 months.

Althea Dryden, one of the research managers, will work with some of the 1300 teens expected to participate.

“The program is based on the notion that it takes a village to raise a child. The facilitators are adults that teens trust when they are going through the confusing teen years,” Dryden said.

The CHAMPS program is partnered with many community organizations: Gate of Hope, Neighborhood House, Steward’s Staff, House of Ruth, and Presbyterian Community Center.