One's youth is a critical stage of human development where adolescents are more vulnerable in certain situations and are at risk of making unsafe or unhealthy choices. These unhealthy behaviors could lead to long-term risk factors for poor health conditions as adults and why we feel it necessary to engage youth in emotional, physical and intellectual well-being in promoting positive behaviors, social roles and relationships.

While the NC teen birth rate is declining, it remains remarkedly higher than the national average. Scotland County has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in our state.  In 2020 there were 32 teen pregnancies for 15 to 19-year olds in Scotland County and increased to 44 teen pregnancies in 2021 and decreased slightly to 41 teen pregnancies for this age group in 2022 at a rate of 39.8 compared to the NC rate of 21.8 for this age group.