Metro Council for Teen Potential

585 Joseph Ave.
Rochester, NY 14605
Phone: 585-325-8123
Fax: 585-546-8123
Hours:  8:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., M-F
    11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Saturday

Sheila Driscoll, Program Director

Program Description:

The Metro Council for Teen Potential (MCTP) was organized in 1986 in order to coordinate and expand teen pregnancy prevention and youth development efforts.

MCTP is an unincorporated membership association. Its members represent many segments of the community, including human service agencies, government bodies, church and religious groups, hospitals and health clinics, schools, neighborhood associations; as well as parents and teens.

MCTP provides oversight of the following programs:

In-Control
In-Control is a unique program which links reproductive health care with community education and comprehensive neighborhood outreach in order to reduce the teen pregnancy rates in the southwest and northeast areas of the City of Rochester. In-Control is a collaboration between Baden Street Settlement, Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/Syracuse Region, and Urban League of Rochester.

C.O.N.E.C.T.S
CONECTS sponsors clubs for teens in the northeast sector of the City of Rochester. These clubs offer workshops, social and recreational opportunities, college tours, and academic support. CONECTS also offers case management for teen parents (both mothers and fathers) and support for the families of the teens who participate.   CONECTS agency members are Baden Street Settlement, City of Rochester Action for a Better Community, Puerto-Rican Youth Development, Urban League of Rochester, Catholic Family Services, and YWCA.

Members against Teen Pregnancy (MATP)
Members against Teen Pregnancy (MATP) is a comprehensive adolescent pregnancy prevention initiative designed for and in consultation with teens. The project is a unique peer-driven pregnancy prevention program, utilizing three best practice components of teen pregnancy prevention: empowering youth to develop and implement solutions, peer-to-peer programming, and a community organizing model.

The project’s primary goal is to utilize the internal resources of high schools to develop and implement school-based models to change attitudes and behaviors of students, parents and school staff around teen pregnancy. Milestones include leadership and marketing training, teen gaining competencies in pregnancy prevention information and skills, and completion of monthly school-wide activities at each school.

Staff of Members against Teen Pregnancy recruits "natural student leaders’ at area high schools---Franklin, Marshall and East. These student leaders then work together with adult staff members (including program staff, teachers and other school faculty, and parents) to promote to the student body the message of postponing pregnancy. Student activities have included skits, prom promise campaigns, "baby think it over" projects, and forums featuring teen parents. Members Against Teen Pregnancy (MATP) is a joint collaborative between Baden Street Settlement, Threshold, Rochester City School District, Prevention Partners, Urban League of Rochester and the Catholic Youth Organization.

Project Odyssey
An intensive enriched after school program that offers participating students workshops, tutoring, mentoring, and help with job readiness skills and job placement. The project uses a non-punitive approach in order to aid teens with problems solving, provides individualized life planning and maintains continuous contact over years. The multiple services programming includes social and recreational opportunities, college tours, and life time sports. Project Odyssey is a project of Baden Street Settlement, Eastside Community Center and Planned Parenthood of Rochester/Syracuse Region.

Rochester Coalition Partnership to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
The Coalition Partnership is collaborative of the Baden Street Settlement, City of Rochester Human Services Bureau, and University of Rochester. The coalition seeks to demonstrate that communities can mobilize their resources in support of sustainable, community-wide, comprehensive, and effective programs that reduce the number and rates of initial and repeat teen pregnancies and related problems.

Towards that end, the Coalition Partnership has developed a Community Action Plan (CAP) detailing specific strategies to lower teen pregnancy rates, evaluate the effectiveness of pregnancy prevention and youth development programs, support related data collection, evaluation and dissemination activities.

Ryan White Title III HIV/AIDS Planning Initiative for African American Populations
The project focus is on developing a plan for an early intervention program that provides primary services, which are comprehensive, continuous, culturally competent and consumer-focused. The plan will include "best practices" with demonstrated success locally or in other regions serving similar populations. This initiative is a collaborative between Baden Street Settlement and the Rochester Primary Care Network.