BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Budget cuts are coming to HOPE Buffalo, the federally-funded teen pregnancy prevention program.
Launched in 2015, the group partners with Erie County and local schools to provide teens with an "evidence-based" approach to sex education and health.
According to group leaders, they had originally inked a deal with the U.S. Department of Health to reduce the area's pregnancy rate by 30 percent.
And they were promised $2 million a year to get that job done.
However, Department of Health officials announced that it would be cutting that funding June 2018.
Despite the blow, HOPE Buffalo Deputy Director Maisha Drayton said they're going to continue to find ways to work with or without that money.
"We are not going away or putting the tail between our legs and saying 'Well I guess that funding's gone. On to the next thing.' We are committed to our community and that is why community will is so important,” Drayton said.
Drayton added that over the last two years they've helped more than 5,000 teens.