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November 2007 update on new publications, actions you can take, and more!
Advocates for Youth's e-News Update
News You Can Use
Democrats Finalize Massive Increase for Abstinence-Only Funding
James Wagoner blogged about the Democrats' approval of an increase in abstinence-only funding.
The Democratic controlled Labor HHS Appropriations conference committee report includes the full $28 million increase requested by President Bush for failed abstinence-only-until-marriage-programs. The Democrats have now granted the president and his anti-sex education zealots a whopping $141 million dollar budget for abstinence-only programs -- something they could never achieve even under a conservative Republican Congress!
With one breathtakingly cynical move, the Democratic leadership has now stamped its brand on one of the biggest ideological boondoggles in congressional history. More disturbingly, they have placed the health and safety of young people at risk by promoting programs that spread ignorance in the era of HIV/AIDS. Placing politics before public health and ideology over science have now become bipartisan follies.
Click here to read the full blog.
World AIDS Day is December 1st!
Twenty-five years into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, HIV and AIDS continue to be a dire threat to global public health. More than half of all new HIV infections occur among people ages 25 and under, and almost 11.8 million youth are living with HIV or AIDS. Throughout the world, almost 6,000 youth ages 15 to 24 are infected with HIV each day. Young women are more vulnerable to the HIV epidemic than are young men - 62 percent of infected youth are female.
IYLC Members Blog Women Deliver
The Women Deliver Conference brought together almost 2,000 participants from 109 countries to create the energy, the commitment, and the knowledge to fundamentally shift how women's health and women's contributions are viewed in the global agenda. Advocates' International Youth Leadership Council (IYLC) members participated in the conference and blogged about their experiences.
Take Action
In honor of World AIDS Day, Advocates for Youth urges you to send letters to your Congressional Representatives on two bills addressing global HIV and AIDS:
The HIV Prevention Act is a bill that would remove a funding restriction which requires 33% of U.S. foreign aid spent on HIV prevention be spent on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and allow funds to be used as they were intended: to help prevent new HIV infections.
Click here to urge your Senator to co-sponsor the HIV Prevention Act!
The Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act (PATHWAY) of 2007 would repeal the funding requirement, and require President Bush and the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to develop a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy to address the major factors contributing to gender disparities in HIV infection. Women and girls increasingly are the face of the pandemic. The time has come to repeal the abstinence-until-marriage earmark and take a stand for women and young people.
Click here to tell your Representative to co-sponsor the PATHWAY Act!
New At Advocates
Apply for the Anti-Homophobia Project
Through Advocates' Homophobia Project, organizations may receive culturally relevant publications and materials on HIV/STI and teen pregnancy prevention programming for GLBTQ youth; strategic technical assistance and training; and a seed grant in the amount of $7,000 to create safe spaces for GLBTQ youth of color 13-24 years old and redress homophobia within the local community, including schools and agencies. The deadline to apply is December 6, 2007.
Click here to learn more and download the application.
The Urban Retreat
In early October, Advocates for Youth hosted the 6th annual Urban Retreat. This year we had 65 young people ages 14-24 attend the 3 day intensive training. They learned about adolescent reproductive and sexual health, comprehensive sex education, HIV prevention, and domestic and international policy. They were also trained on how to work with the media, how to how to conduct workshops, and how to be effective peer educators and youth activists. Thirty-four of the participants stayed an extra day to lobby for comprehensive sex education on Capital Hill - they visited 67 congressional offices to advocate for youth reproductive and sexual health!
This year, youth from Advocates programs included the 10 Campus Organizers, 5 High School Organizers, 10 International Youth Leadership Council Members, 7 MySistahs Online Peer Educators, 12 State Activists, 16 Young Women of Color Leadership Council Members and 7 YouthResource Online Peer Educators.
Advocates receives new grant from the Office of Minority Health
With a three year cooperative agreement from the Office of Minority Health (OMH), Advocates for Youth will work with five historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to empower young African American/black women ages 17 to 24 to acquire HIV risk avoidance and/or risk reduction behaviors. This year, Advocates will provide the student health centers at Alabama A&M University, Benedict College, and South Carolina State University with information, technical assistance, training, and seed grants to improve/expand their HIV prevention services for young women. In partnership with the student health centers, Advocates will also create a campus-based Young Women of Color Leadership Council to mobilize young women and other student organizations to conduct HIV prevention education for young women on campus as well as develop and disseminate a youth-friendly education campaign. Two additional HBCUs will be selected in year two of the project.
You can help Advocates for Youth with a contribution today. To donate, visit http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/donatetoday.htm
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