Why
Know equips more than 13,000 adolescents each year with the
knowledge and support to abstain from risky behaviors including sexual
activity.
Why
Know’s five-day, age appropriate curricula is taught in 57 schools in
Chattanooga and
North
Georgia (Hamilton, Dade, Walker, Catoosa, and Gordon
counties). The Why Know curriculum is
Tennessee's largest and most successful
abstinence program.
Organizations
in 40 states and 11 foreign countries use Why Know's
model and abstinence curriculum
Why
Know's brochures are being used in all 50 states
Last year, 3,950 individuals heard Why Know’s presentations through youth
groups and civic organizations
Why
Know's Road to Excellence (RTE) leadership groups have a 97%
retention rate
90% of
participants in Why Know's weekly RTE leadership programs reported that
they were abstinent--nearly 40% above the national average for teens!
Last
year 11,543,380 people heard Why Know’s message through our media campaign
Where Why Know Came From
Sixteen years ago,
Kris Frainie
was serving as a volunteer at AAA Women’s services, a
Chattanooga crisis pregnancy center, when a
young woman walked through the front door. The girl, just seventeen years
old, had an all-too-common story: a “straight-A” student and the leader of her
church’s youth council, the girl and her steady boyfriend had only had sex
once. They thought they had been responsible—they had used a condom. But now the girl was pregnant.
Kris, with others, spoke with the young woman for a long
time about her options, counseling her concerning the difficult decisions
facing her. But in the end, the young
girl decided not to carry the child—she traveled to nearby
Atlanta and underwent an abortion so that no
one else would know about her pregnancy.
From this experience, an enormous burden grew in Kris’ heart
and soul. She realized how little these young people knew about the
consequences of their actions before
they made the choice to have sex. She
saw how truly imperative it was that someone go to these teenagers before they did
things which would lead them to a crisis pregnancy center’s doors.
Someone had to share the truth about abstinence in a way that would reveal the
emotional and physical risks of pre-marital sex. Someone needed to equip
them with refusal skills and offer those already sexually active the hope of
renewed abstinence. And so Kris began
the ministry which would grow into Why Know.
In 1991, she began presenting the truth about sex to
audiences of teens and parents. From a pilot program in a handful of
local schools, the ministry grew into a complete program entitled Why Know
Abstinence Education, reaching almost sixty area schools with the message of
saving sex for a faithful, committed, healthy marriage.
Today, Why Know is an organization with a national
reputation for cutting edge methods in abstinence education. With much thanks to our founder,
Kris Frainie, and gratitude for her vision in this
community, the Why Know staff continues to carry this vision into both our community
and the culture at-large. Today, we see
the fruit of these efforts in thousands of young people choosing abstinence;
choosing to break the generational and cultural cycles; and, down the road,
choosing healthy marriages!
