Make a donation of $25 or more to Advocates for Youth this week, and we'll send you our new Great American Condom Campaign t-shirt!

The Great American Condom Campaign (GACC) is a youth-led grassroots movement to make the United States a sexually healthy nation.

Each year, Advocates provides more than one million Trojan brand condoms to students who serve as "SafeSites" on college and university campuses across the country. The students distribute condoms, educate their peers about sexual and reproductive health issues, and organize to improve policies that affect young people's health and well-being.

Last year alone, the GACC reached young people at 1,108 public and private universities, trade schools, military schools, religious institutions, and community colleges — many of which have little to no condom access — in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Young People Outraged by Continued Attacks on Birth Control

Statement from Debra Hauser, Executive Director, Advocates for Youth

Today’s announcement from the White House represents a good-faith attempt to balance the critical need for access to birth control coverage with exemptions for religious employers. We support this decision because it keeps the policy focus where it belongs – on women’s health. We will continue to monitor the implementation of this policy to ensure that it benefits all women in the ways the President has outlined.

Young women have much to lose if contraception becomes a political pawn in an election year. They rely on birth control to prevent unplanned pregnancies and for other health reasons. The recent attempts to politicize preventive health care put young women and their health at risk. Along with young people across the country, Advocates for Youth is outraged that a manufactured controversy has turned birth control into a so-called “election year controversy.” Are we seriously having a national debate about birth control?  In 2012?

Now, we will see whether opponents of birth control, both in and out of Congress, will accept “yes” for an answer, or if they will resist this common-sense accommodation offered by the Administration.

by Sarah Audelo, Senior Federal Policy Manager

This year, you have already proven how truly powerful grassroots activists can be. I wish we had time to simply celebrate these victories, but the attacks just keep coming.

After an outpouring of support from activists like you, President Obama and the Department of Health and Human Services announced in January that they are standing strong by no-cost birth control. In that announcement, the administration kept intact a conscience clause for churches. While we believe everyone should have access to basic preventive coverage, the Obama administration has already provided a compromise.

TAKE ACTION: Tell President Obama to stand strong against attacks on birth control coverage. Tell Congress not to undermine women's access to basic health care.

Despite these clear concessions aimed at finding a middle ground, social conservatives are not stopping their relentless attack on access to birth control. Social conservatives — led, as usual, by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — have decided that if you're a student or employee of a religious affiliated organization, they have the right to deny you any medical coverage they don't agree with.

This view is extreme, but they're making sure people listen. If you look at the media, birth control is suddenly a "controversial issue."

It's 2012. Are we seriously talking about denying women access to birth control? Apparently, we are.

by Trina Scott, Senior Program Manager, Young Women of Color Empowerment

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a national HIV testing and treatment community mobilization initiative targeted at Blacks in the United States and the Diaspora.  Watch and share the video on how young people can get involved and protect themselves, after the jump. We’ll also be tweeting facts and resources throughout the day to #NBHAAD – follow us and re-tweet!  

African Americans/Blacks  experience disproportionate rates of HIV and AIDS.  In their lifetimes, 1 in 16 Black men  and 1 in 32 Black women will be diagnosed with HIV; and African Americans make up 14% of the population but account for 44% of all new HIV infections.

Why the disproportionate rates?

 According to the CDC:

 “ Blacks do not engage in more risky behavior than members of other racial/ethnic populations. Many of the factors that place blacks at higher risk for chronic diseases also place them at increased risk for HIV. For example, social and economic realities prevalent among blacks—such as higher levels of poverty, racial discrimination, limited access to health care and housing, and higher rates of incarceration—are associated with  increased HIV risk.”

In fact, studies have found that African Americans are more at risk for HIV and STIs even when they have the same or fewer risk behaviors.  

So what will turn the HIV epidemic around for African Americans?  It will take a combination of approaches.  That’s why there are four focal points of this year’s NBHAAD: education, testing, involvement, and treatment.  

by Debra Hauser 

In January 2012, Debra Hauser transitioned into her new role succeeding James Wagoner as Executive Director of Advocates for Youth. Together, they take a look at Advocates’ place in the movement, opportunities on the horizon, and lessons learned along the way. 

Read James Wagoner's "Looking Back"

My first reflection as President of Advocates for Youth is what a kick it was to work hand-in-hand with James Wagoner. Sure, he had his idiosyncratic side (using terms like “troglodyte” to describe a recalcitrant Democratic Committee Chairman, or wearing his omni-present black T-shirt inside-out on occasion) but he was also visionary, authentic, transparent, and a really great friend. I’m going to miss him a great deal. But I’m also looking forward to a continuing partnership with James in his new role as a part-time advisor to the organization- particularly now that I might get a chance once in a while to tell him what to do!

But, seriously, I am both excited and newly energized to be taking over as Executive Director of Advocates for Youth. I love our cause and the young people we serve. I value Advocates’ staff for their passion and commitment to our issues. I admire and respect my colleagues in the field for their incredible expertise and steadfast work in challenging times. I am excited to continue collaborating on efforts to champion the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people.

That said, I thought I would provide colleagues and friends of Advocates a sense of where I see the organization headed over the coming years – and perhaps a snapshot of my own priorities within that journey.

by James Wagoner

In January 2012, Debra Hauser transitioned into her new role succeeding James Wagoner as Executive Director of Advocates for Youth. Together, they take a look at Advocates’ place in the movement, opportunities on the horizon, and lessons learned along the way.

Read Debra Hauser's "Looking Forward" 

December 31, 2011 marked my last day as Advocates for Youth’s Executive Director, a position I had held since 1997. As I look back on my time in this role, my first reflection is that time does indeed fly when you are having fun! Without doubt, the last fourteen years have been the best of my professional life, due to the incredible talent, commitment, and energy of my colleagues at Advocates and the field at large.

While I’m excited about continuing as a senior adviser to Advocates and engaging some new opportunities as a consultant, I already miss my co-strategist, thinker, and friend, Deb Hauser. Deb taught me the value of partnership in leadership; how adjusting the “fit” can dramatically improve a staff colleague’s performance; how effective decision making is an iterative process propelled by frank talk and honest differences of opinion; and how putting vision first not only builds a strong institutional brand but also helps regulate ego and other factors that undermine organizational culture. Simply put, she is the best - and Advocates for Youth, as well as our field in general, will benefit enormously from her leadership and collaboration.

by Emily Bridges, Director, Public Information Services

A study came out last weel that contradicts one of the anti-abortion movement's attempts to mislead the public: the common claim that abortion is bad for a woman's health.

Not so, says a study out this week in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

From Reuters:

Researchers [in the United States] found that women were about 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth to a live baby than to die from complications of an abortion.

It's not that surprising, since abortion procedures are very safe.   

Just two months ago, another study found that abortion does not cause women to have mental health problems. In fact, notes the leader of the research team:

by Julia Reticker-Flynn, Manager, Youth Activist Network