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November 2006 Monthly Monitor
Advocates for Youth's Youth of Color Initiative
Feature: Science Based Prevention Programs*
Despite recent declines in teen pregnancy, US teen birth and sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates remain among the highest in the western world. Advocates for Youth undertook exhaustive reviews of existing research to compile a list of the programs proven effective in reducing teen pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or to cause at least two beneficial changes in sexual risk behaviors. Three years ago, nineteen evaluated programs were described in Science and Success: Sex Education and Other Programs that Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections, (Advocates for Youth, 2003). A supplement to this highly successful report is due out in early 2007 and will include SiHLE, a science-based STI/HIV intervention for young African American women.
SiHLE comes from a Swahili word for beauty, and also is an acronym for "Sisters informing, healing, living, and empowering." This intervention is based on social cognitive theory and theories of gender and power. The program is culturally and gender-specific for African American adolescent women at risk for negative sexual health outcomes. The program's designers worked in partnership with community African American female teens to develop the intervention and the study conditions. The intervention consists of four sessions, each lasting four hours and implemented on consecutive Saturdays at a community health clinic. The program is implemented by a trained health educator who is also female and African American and by two female African American peer educators. The peer educators model skills and promote group norms supportive of HIV prevention.
SiHLE emphasizes the following:
- Ethnic and gender pride
- Discussion of the joys and challenges of being an African American adolescent female
- Awareness of HIV prevention strategies including abstinence, partner reduction, and condom use
- Building participants' confidence to make healthy decisions about sex
- The importance of healthy relationships.
Click here for more information on science based programs.
For more information on SiHLE, please contact:
Ralph J. DiClemente, PhD, Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Room 554, Atlanta, GA 30322; e-mail: rdiclem@sph.emory.edu
* This feature is adapted from Science and Success: Supplement I, by S. Alford, Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2006 (no longer available).
Capacity Building & Professional Development
The Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) project is designed to bring science-based, community-and group-level HIV prevention interventions to community-based service providers and state and local health departments. Its goal is to enhance the capacity to implement effective interventions at the state and local levels, to reduce the spread of HIV and STDs, and to promote healthy behaviors.
In collaboration with the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Center on AIDS & Community Health (COACH) at the Academy for Educational Development (AED) offers training and helps to coordinate technical assistance on twelve science-based, effective interventions for HIV prevention.
For more information, please visit http://effectiveinterventions.org
Staying Alive 2006: Although focused on the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS, this conference is open to all regardless of HIV status. Staying Alive is presented by the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) in collaboration with a local host committee and national program committee.
Sessions at Staying Alive cover a diverse range of topics of interest to people living with HIV/AIDS, including up-to-date information about treatment and care, organizing for social change, the realities of intimacy and relationships, and the challenges of the worldwide AIDS epidemic.
The conference is taking place in New Orleans, LA from December 6th thru 10th 2006.
For more information contact NAPWA, E-mail: stayingalive@napwa.org; Phone: (866) 846-9366; or access the website: http://www.napwa.org/staying_alive.html
Tailoring HIV Counseling & Testing to the Unique Needs of Adolescents: This one-day training will prepare participants to tailor HIV testing services to the unique needs of adolescents. It will help build participant skills in meeting the counseling requirements of Article 27-F, including talking with adolescents about HIV reporting, conducting domestic violence screening, and assisting with partner notification.
Topics to be covered include: (1) Legal rights of adolescents when seeking HIV testing and treatment; (2) Overview of the department of health guidelines titled "HIV & Adolescents: Counseling and Testing, Linkage to Care and Partner Notification" and (3) Understanding adolescent development, including opportunities for values clarification.
The training will be held in Buffalo, NY on December 19th 2006.
For more information or to register, email hivet@health.state.ny.us or access the website at:
http://www.nyhealth.gov/diseases/aids/training/hivtest.htm#tailor
SisterSong, an organization whose goal is to improve the lives of indigenous women and women of color through reproductive justice, will host their 2007 National Conference in Chicago, May 31-June 3. Entitled "Let's Talk about Sex", this four-day conference will include workshops and plenaries on topics such as birth control, senior sexuality, STDs, microbicides, gynecological health and wellness, erotica, and more, all through a reproductive justice lens. There will also be special workshops designed by and for young women and teens.
For more information, please visit: http://www.sistersong.net
Funding Opportunities
Advocates for Youth is pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for community-based, minority, youth-serving organizations and institutions. Advocates for Youth is a national organization dedicated to creating programs and advocating for policies that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates provides information, training, and strategic assistance to youth-serving organizations, policy makers, youth activists, and the media in the United States and in developing countries.
Through the Young Women of Color Initiative, your staff may receive culturally relevant publications and materials on HIV prevention programming, strategic technical assistance and training, and seed grants to implement HIV prevention projects for young women, 13 to 24 years old, made possible through a cooperative agreement with the Office of Minority Health.
(The deadline has passed. We are no longer accepting applications.)The application form and/or proposal are due by November 17, 2006, 5:00 p.m. EDT. Please mail or fax applications to Trina Scott, Program Manager, Young Women of Color Initiative, Advocates for Youth, 2000 M Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 419-1448.
The National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of AIDS Research (OAR), are pleased to announce the 2006-2007 Equal Access Initiative (EAI) Computer Grants Program.
The EAI provides HIV/AIDS organizations a computer and Internet access, increase their capacity to provide their constituents access to online HIV/AIDS information and resources.
Qualified community-based organizations (CBOs) in the United States, its territories and possessions are invited to submit an application to participate in this program. Applications are due December 1st, World AIDS Day.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.nmac.org/programs___services/computer_grants_program/875.cfm
Announcements
African NIAID/NIH Launches "Be the Generation" Campaign: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health, recently announced the launch of the "Be The Generation" public awareness campaign, challenging young Americans to be the generation that ends AIDS through the discovery of a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine. Using multi-generational pairs of individuals, the awareness ads compare major social issues such as civil rights with the search to end the AIDS epidemic. The campaign challenges this generation to become involved in changing the world as the generations before them did.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.bethegeneration.org
The National Minority AIDS Council's Stigma Resource Center is now open! In addition to reading the latest articles on the stigma around HIV/AIDS, you may also find tools to counter stigma in your community, links to other websites and much more.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.nmac.org/nmac2/stigma/resources/main.html
You can help Advocates for Youth with a contribution today. To donate, visit http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/donatetoday.htm
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