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The Passing of Our Friend and Colleague,
Joe Fay
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We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend, Joe Fay, formerly the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. In honor of his work as an advocate for young people, as a sexuality educator, and as a leader in the field, the American Journal of Sexuality Education will publish an "In Memoriam" piece about Joe, with the blessing of Joe's family. If you were a friend or colleague of Joe and wish to share something, please feel free to submit a statement or memory through this online form.
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Submit Your Proposal By Tomorrow
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How are you innovating, making change, or connecting with people about sexuality? Share your story with 500+ professionals at the #HealthyTeen20 conference.
The deadline is April 1st for all sessions. Submit now and join the conversation at Un/Filtered: Sexuality in the Connected Age.
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Catching Up with Design Vagabonds
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Genevieve Martínez-García, Nick Sufrinko, and Milagros Garrido
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Power to Decide recently featured a few of our staff who make up the Design Vagabonds Innovation Next Team on their website.
Now in its fifth year, and with funding from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs, Innovation Next is a unique accelerator program aimed at redefining adolescent sexual health through a focus on technology-enabled ideas to ensure that young people have the information and access to services they need.
Our team is currently working to develop Wingman, an alternative, suggestive keyboard for the phone to help young men ages 18-24 navigate tough conversations around sexual health with their partner. Using machine learning, Wingman will help keep conversations going by prompting users to discuss important subjects such as consent and birth control before they get in bed. Wingman also helps young people overcome uncertainty or shame when communicating with their partner about sex.
Read more about Nick, Genevieve, and Mila's experience with the Innovation Next design process and what they have in store for the future.
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Awareness Observances in April
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Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is about more than awareness—the ultimate goal is prevention. Since consent is a clear, concrete example of what it takes to end sexual harassment, abuse, and assault, it only made sense that this year’s theme center on empowering all to put consent into practice. This year, SAAM is celebrating its 19th anniversary with the theme “I Ask," which champions the power of asking—whether it be asking to hold someone’s hand, for permission to share personal information with others, or if a partner is interested in sex. "I Ask" is the statement by which individuals will demonstrate that asking for consent is a healthy, normal, and necessary part of everyday interactions. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) has provided resources, social media guides and graphics, and a free toolkit. The NSVRC is hosting #30DaysofSAAM Instagram contest, that is an opportunity for individuals and organizations to participate in Sexual Assault Awareness Month throughout April in an engaging and meaningful way.
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April is National Minority Health Month, and this year, the Office of Minority Health (OMH) is teaming up with the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) Move Your Way campaign and partners to highlight the tremendous advantages gained from having an active lifestyle. For the second consecutive year, the theme for National Minority Health Month is Active & Healthy. This year’s theme will provide OMH and minority health advocates around the nation the opportunity to advance health outcomes by highlighting the benefits of incorporating small amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity into our schedules as recommended by the 2nd edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Simple changes to one’s daily routine can transform lives and reduce the risk of chronic diseases and other conditions that often are more common or severe among racial and ethnic minority groups.
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Established in 2016 as a joint program of the Center for Education of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Real Talk with Dr. Offutt, and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Health, Teen Health Week (THW) is a nationwide initiative to raise awareness of the unique health issues facing teens all over the world. Through a wide variety of local, state, national, and international programs and activities, THW encourages teens to take charge of their physical and mental health to facilitate healthy habits they will carry with them throughout their lives. Each day will focus on a specific theme related to teen health. There are a variety of resources for individuals and organizations to plan events, promote social media campaigns, and raise awareness.
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During the first full week of April each year, the American Public Health Association (APHA) brings together communities across the United States to observe National Public Health Week (NPHW) as a time to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving the nation. The APHA will be taking their NPHW events entirely online this year, to protect partners and neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic. During each day of National Public Health Week, the focus will be on one public health topic that is critical to the future success in creating the healthiest nation. Use this COVID-19 lens and apply to the NPHW daily themes and help keep equity at the forefront of the ongoing worldwide conversation about public health. Get involved by becoming a partner, joining APHA's Billion Steps Challenge, or sharing these resources that will encourage people to engage all communities and all sectors in a conversation about the role all can play to put good health within everyone’s reach.
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April has historically served as STD Awareness Month. The decision to move to a week was not made lightly but rather driven by consideration of past efforts and audience engagement at the CDC and in speaking with colleagues in the field. Furthermore, in being strategic of health observances, the CDC has selected the second full week of April for STD awareness as the first week is National Public Health Week and the third week is National Infertility Awareness Week. Hopefully, the change will amplify prevention messaging over the week, rather than diffused across a month, increasing the collective impact for STD awareness in the nation. The CDC has provided four different campaigns that have a unique STD prevention focus and audience. Each campaign provides a similar offering of companion materials that can be used throughout April—web and social media graphics, a customizable article, sample social media content, and a widget. Learn more about each theme and check out the toolkit which functions as a guide to help partners understand each campaign’s theme and target audiences, and the corresponding materials available.
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Check out these related Healthy Teen Network Resources:
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Help Young People Make a Game Plan for Their Health with Volt20
Looking for a way to engage the young people you work with while maintaining social distancing? Consider using Volt20 to help them create a game plan for their health. Volt20 helps youth think about their lives, decide what they like about their lives right now, what they wish were different, and plan for a healthy future. With Volt20, adolescents and young adults can focus on what’s going on with their bodies, minds, relationships, and the places they live, learn, work, and play. Read more...
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Professional Development You Can Do While Social Distancing
Stuck inside? I know, I know…most of us are indeed stuck inside, doing the best we can to keep up with life while social distancing ourselves. Email after email, we see the cancelations or postponements for our conferences, trainings, and other events. If you find yourself with some extra time now that your on-site professional development opportunities are non-existent, consider our free elearning resources. You can complete these elearning units at your own pace…and they’re free. Read more...
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Influencers are leading the online sex ed revolution!
Last month, Genevieve was invited to present at “Switched On: Sexuality education in the digital space,” an international symposium organized by UNESCO and UNFPA. Over 170 participants from all over the world gathered in Istanbul, Turkey, to share their experiences and lessons learned in producing, sustaining, and evaluating digital sexual health initiatives. Read more...
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Let’s See: Pulse Short-Term Impact Results
From 2016 to 2019, Child Trends conducted a randomized control trial with 2,317 young women to evaluate the impact of Pulse. Pulse is a web-based mobile app intervention, developed by Healthy Teen Network, that provides comprehensive, medically accurate sexual and reproductive health information to young women, in English and Spanish. Read more...
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