Abby Rosenstein, State Strategies Coordinator

This May marked the fifth national gathering of state sex education leaders at the State Summit in Washington, DC. State Summit V brought together 75 participants from 25 states and the District of Columbia. The group was diverse—hailing from teen pregnancy organizations, AIDS service organizations, reproductive justice organizations, youth service organizations, and religious groups, as well as state departments of education and state education associations—and participants had much to share and learn from one another.

 Advocates for sex education have been through a lot of ups and downs in the last few years, and at this year’s conference, participants strategized about preserving and making the most of wins in federal funding and state policy, as well as moving forward collaboratively for continued and sustainable successes in the states.

 After years of lobbying for the REAL Act, advocates were excited when, in the spring of 2010, Congress authorized the Personal Responsibility Education Program, a state grant program for school-based comprehensive sex education programs. This was clearly funding that states needed and wanted: 45 states and the District of Columbia applied for this funding in 2011, putting it to work to implement evidence-based programs to prevent unplanned teen pregnancies and the transmission of STIs, and to teach other adulthood preparation subjects to young people.

 Yet only a year after this funding came out, members of the House of Representatives have introduced a bill (HR 1215) that would defund PREP by changing the $75 million per year from mandatory to discretionary funding, putting it at the center of budget battles during the appropriations process. Advocates at the State Summit headed to Capitol Hill to lobby their Congressional Representatives and Senators, sharing stories from their home states, and urging members to support young people’s health and rights. Participants encouraged their members to protect PREP and other crucial programs and funding, such as the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative and the Division of Adolescent School Health, and to eliminate the harmful and ineffective Title V Abstinence-Only program.

 Throughout the Summit, advocates shared their successes, struggles, and lessons learned from their work in the states. Much of the focus of this year’s conference was on building strategic alliances between the advocacy and education communities to better advance sex education throughout the process of advocacy, policy, implementation, and institutionalization. Advocacy and education leaders discussed their experiences and strategies around organizing parents, young people, and communities of faith, using effective messaging that reflects our values and our vision, working with School Health Advisory Councils, collaborating effectively, and much more.

 State Summit V was all about collaboration—Advocates for Youth partnered with the ACLU, SIECUS, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, as well as AIDS United, Answer, GLSEN, the National Education Association Health Information Network, and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to plan and put on this year’s conference—and participants left with new connections and ideas for continuing their work across the states. One participant said, “This was one of the most effective, most useful conferences I've ever attended. I'm leaving inspired, with multiple strategies, new ideas, action plans and strengthened networks.”