Debra Hauser, President

This year, after 14 dynamic and visionary years at the helm of Advocates for Youth, James Wagoner stepped down as President and Executive Director. His vision, commitment and passion set the organization on a bold path as a champion for the sexual health and rights of young people the world over.

In January 2012, with great excitement and a strong sense of commitment, I took over the leadership of the organization after serving as Executive Vice President during the entirety of James’ tenure. His mentorship and vision continues to be a great gift to me. One of the goals of any good leadership transition must be to strike the right balance between ensuring stability and breaking new ground.

Advocates’ mission remains relevant and inspirational. The organization will continue to be a bold and innovative voice promoting a rights-based, evidence-informed, positive approach to youth sexual health. A cornerstone to our vision is the authentic partnerships we have with young people. The entire organization is committed to empowering youth as activists and leaders. Advocates champions youth leadership not just as a pathway to healthy adolescent development but as a strategy for changing the world. 

Help us realize our vision:  donate to Advocates today.

In the years ahead, the organization will continue to champion young peoples’ rights to honest sex education, confidential sexual health services and social opportunity—the type of opportunity that builds strong lives and strong communities. We remain deeply committed to our current, innovative work to expand adolescent access to contraception; promote comprehensive sex education; improve HIV prevention services in schools and communities; fight homophobia; and use our policy work on the Hill and with the Administration to advance the goals of our state and local partners.

At the same time, Advocates has opportunities to break new ground by:

• Expanding the rights framework to include issues of sexual health equity, issues that are critical to communities of color and LGBTQ youth – communities most affected by the social disparities that drive high rates of teen pregnancy, HIV, and other STIs.
• Creating a new cultural narrative on abortion – one that uses personal storytelling to break through the stigma that silences women’s voices on abortion access and stifles young people from taking a vocal stand in support of abortion access.
• Leveraging our domestic expertise to champion the health and rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth living in the global south where homophobia is often rampant and homosexuality is illegal in many places.
• Deepening our partnerships with the reproductive justice community and empowering youth of color as activists and leaders.

Advocates recognizes that by deepening our work in these areas we can move closer to meeting our vision of a society that values youth as leaders, embraces sexuality as normal and healthy and recognizes its responsibility to provide all young people with the information, support and affirmation they need to become sexually healthy adults. We can and will change the world. It all starts with a small group of committed and thoughtful people. It is my honor to work alongside these people. They include Advocates’ staff, our youth activists and our organizational colleagues. Together we will change the world if we are smart enough, collaborative enough and brave enough to do so.
Won’t you join us?  Donate to Advocates for Youth today