Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana Receives $50,000 Community Grant from UnitedHealthcare

• Grant to help support teen parents and improve pregnancy
  outcomes for Louisiana teens
• Grant announced at Carroll High School

MONROE, La.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana received a $50,000
Community Grant from UnitedHealthcare to help support teen parents and
improve pregnancy outcomes by creating a safe and supportive space for
Louisiana teens.

Dr. Ann Kay Logarbo, chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare Community
Plan, presented the grant to the Children’s Coalition for Northeast
Louisiana. The grant aims to help improve teen pregnancy outcomes
through the school site Jus4Me, which places the evidence-based
program “Nurturing Skills for Teen Parents” at the heart of a weekly
online resource for pregnant teens and teen parents. The project will
serve pregnant teens in Ouachita, Union and Madison Parishes, and will
be located in four high schools.

The donation was given during a check-presentation ceremony at Carroll
High School. Guests and community leaders, including State Rep. Katrina
Jackson, State Sen. Mike Walsworth, State Rep. Frank Hoffman, State Sen.
Francis Thompson, Monroe City Schools Board member Brenda Shelling,
Wossman High School Principal Sam Moore, Carroll High School Principal
Patrick Taylor and Monroe City Schools Superintendent Brent Vidrine
attended the event to see first-hand the program’s impact in the
community through presentations and a facility tour.

Jus4Me supports pregnant teens and teen parents, and improves
teen pregnancy outcomes, through various initiatives and resources
including:

• weekly 50-minute evidence-based parenting sessions at school sites for
  pregnant teens and teen parents during the school year;
• social norming campaigns within the school and community to increase
  understanding and decrease stigmatization of teen pregnancy; and
• working with School-Based Health Centers and school staff to develop
  policies and enhance access to health and educational services for
  pregnant teens and teen parents.

“We thank UnitedHealthcare for supporting the important work that
Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana is doing to help teen
parents and address pre-term births in the state,” said Lynn Clark,
executive director, Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana.
“Because of UnitedHealthcare’s generosity, we can continue making
significant contributions to improve pregnancy health among local teens.”

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 15 percent of
Louisiana’s babies are born before term, the second-highest rate in the
nation compared to the national average of 11.5 percent. Babies born
before term are at a higher risk of developing health complications that
can adversely affect vision, hearing, heart rate, blood health, immune
systems and breathing.

“This Community Grant enables the Children’s Coalition for Northeast
Louisiana to provide local teens with evidence-based programming that
improves pregnancy outcomes and the system that supports them,” said Dr.
Logarbo. “Organizations like the Children’s Coalition for Northeast
Louisiana are addressing this issue in order to improve the health of
young women and their babies, particularly in Northeast Louisiana where
preterm births are highest. UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the
opportunity to support the Jus4Me program to provide local teens
with a supportive space that will improve pregnancy outcomes.”

Northeast Louisiana has a teen birth rate of 55.6 teen births per 1,000
teens, more than twice the national average teen birth rate of 26.6 per
1,000. In Union Parish, the growing Hispanic population has a birth rate
of 98 per 1,000, almost five times the state average. Repeat births for
teens in Union Parish are some of the highest in the region at 20
percent. The teen birth rate in Ouachita Parish is 57.8 per 1,000, and
50 per 1,000 in Madison Parish.

“UnitedHealthcare Community Plan’s contribution will make a positive
impact on teens throughout northeast Louisiana,” said Rep. Jackson.
“This donation highlights their continued commitment to our community
and our children.”

The Community Grants Program offers free expert guidance to help the
organizations make their funding efforts more effective. For more
information, visit www.uhccommunitygrants.com.

UnitedHealthcare serves 735,000 people in Louisiana with a network of
158 hospitals and nearly 13,000 physicians and other care providers
statewide.

About The Children’s Coalition for Northeast
Louisiana
The Children’s Coalition for Northeast
Louisiana is a membership-based 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization
dedicated to creating communities where children and families thrive. We
address the needs of children and youth ages 0-18 in four main areas:
Early Care and Education, Healthy Living, Parent Education and Youth
Development. The need for an organization that could quickly move
between and work within other non-profits to meet community needs was
first identified in 1998 at a regional Summit on Youth. There was a
clear recognition of how much stronger our communities would be if
organizations collaborated and became partners in solving and meeting
the needs of children. The Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana
came into being as a result of this visionary thinking.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare
is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by
simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and
wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care
providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit
programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees
and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and
contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care
professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide.
UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:
UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more
information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com
or follow @myUHC on Twitter.

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Contacts

UnitedHealthcare
Buddy Castellano, 952-931-4775
buddy_castellano@uhc.com
or
Children’s
Coalition for Northeast Louisiana
Lindsey Murry, 318-323-8775
LMurry@childrenscoalition.org