Becoming a Responsible Teen (B.A.R.T) is a culturally appropriate, HIV prevention curriculum designed especially for African-American adolescents in non-school, community-based settings. Consisting of eight, one and a half to two hour sessions, Becoming a Responsible Teen combines HIV/AIDS education with behavioral skills training, including assertion, refusal, self-management, problem solving, risk recognition, and correct condom use. Teens learn how to clarify their own values about sexual decision and to practice skills to reduce sexual risk-taking. Based on social learning and self-efficacy theories, the curriculum's primary goal is promoting safer sexual behaviors. It encourages teens to share what they have learned and to practice their skills outside the group setting. It utilizes interactive sessions, including games, role-playing, discussions, and videos. The program is intended for use with gender specific-groups, each facilitated by both a male and female group leader. This program is among that were chosen by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for its compendium of 'Programs That Work.'

B.A.R.T may be implemented at youth-serving organizations such as the Boy's and Girl's Club, YMCA programs, drug rehabilitation programs, runaway shelters, counseling centers, comprehensive health centers, and church groups.

Our culture has made it difficult for people to talk openly and frankly about sex. As a result, most adolescents learn about sex from each other, from sources outside the home or school, or as a direct consequence of their own uninformed sexual decisions.

B.A.R.T is based on the idea that change is possible through information and awareness.