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December 2006 Monthly Monitor
Advocates for Youth's Youth of Color Initiative
Feature: Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Young Women
Young women who have sex with women (YWSW) are at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy. Yet the sexual and reproductive health needs of YWSW are often unrecognized. In a nationwide study of 6,935 self-identified lesbians, 17.2 percent reported a history of STIs.[1] In another survey of lesbian and bisexual women, 26 percent reported a past STI.[2] Sexual intercourse with young men puts YWSW at risk of unintended pregnancy. According to one study, while bisexual and lesbian teenage females were about as likely as heterosexual peers to have had intercourse, they reported twice the rate of pregnancy (12 percent) as heterosexual and questioning young women (five to six percent).[3]
YWSW need comprehensive health care services and sexual health messages that address their specific needs. To adequately address the needs of YWSW, services and sexual health programs should provide a safe space; inclusive programming, including accurate and reliable resources and materials; culturally competent staff and volunteers; programs developed and led by youth; and opportunities to build skills.
- Click here for tips on creating inclusive programming.
- Click here for Creating Safe Space for GLBTQ Youth: A Toolkit.
References
- Diamant AL et al. Lesbians' sexual history with men: implications for taking a sexual history. Archives of Internal Medicine 1999; 159:2730-2736.
- Morrow KM, Allsworth JE. Sexual risk in lesbian and bisexual women. J Gay & Lesbian Medical Association 2000; 4:149-165.
- Saewyc EM et al. Sexual intercourse, abuse and pregnancy among adolescent women: does sexual orientation make a difference? Fam Plann Perspect 1999; 31:127-131.
Capacity Building & Professional Development
The 2007 HIV Prevention Leadership Summit (HPLS) targets planning groups, health departments and community-based organizations providing HIV prevention services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention capacity building assistance providers, and other federal and national partner agencies involved in HIV prevention. The 2007 HPLS will be organized in five tracks: Effective Interventions (with three focus areas: Effective Behavioral Interventions, HIV Counseling and Testing and Related Services, and Beyond Individual Behavior Change: Different Strategies for HIV Prevention); Community Planning and HIV Prevention Leadership; Using Data for Decision Making; Integration, Collaboration and Coordination for Enhanced HIV Prevention; and Strengthening Organizational Infrastructure and Capacity.
HPLS will be held in New Orleans, LA, May 20-23, 2007. The deadline to submit an abstract proposal has been extended to January 5, 2007. For more information about HPLS, please visit http://www.nmac.org/conferences%5F%5F%5Ftrainings/HPLS/.
The 28th Annual Minority Health Conference at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Public Health will focus on HIV/AIDS research, education, and advocacy for minority communities. This conference will be held on February 23, 2007 at the William and Ida Friday Continuing Education Center. The keynote lecture given by Dr. David Malebranche, Assistant Professor at Emory University School of Medicine, will be broadcast by satellite and internet. For more information, please visit http://www.minority.unc.edu/sph/minconf/2007/.
The 2007 National Conference on African Americans and AIDS seeks to update the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of health providers who care for patients with HIV/AIDS. The target audience is healthcare media, federal and state legislators, AIDS service organization officers, social workers, pharmacists, nurses, peer counselors, church leadership and corrections healthcare personnel. The objectives of this conference are to familiarize participants with the epidemiology of HIV in the United States; current guidelines and cutting edge clinical modalities for the management of HIV; current research; social and psychiatric concerns of the HIV infected patient; and policy initiatives.
The National Conference on African Americans and AIDS will be held February 12-13 in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, please visit http://www.minority-healthcare.com/ncaa_2007/index.html.
Funding Opportunities
The Pfizer Foundation has announced a three-year HIV/AIDS initiative to complement existing HIV prevention efforts and to address the need for the HIV/AIDS community to engage in holistic approaches linking prevention, care and treatment programs.
The initiative is targeting AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) providing innovative, comprehensive HIV/AIDS services in communities in the US that are most affected by HIV/AIDS. It will support approximately 20 community-based organizations with grants up to $100,000 for three years for programs that include coordination across HIV/AIDS prevention and primary care and/or those that forge collaborative networks between community-based prevention providers and other prevention and care and treatment services. Funding will not support primary care (treatment) or medications, but will support access to care.
The Pfizer Foundation will fund programs in the following 10 states: New York, Florida, California, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina.
The deadline to apply for this initiative is December 12, 2006. For more information, please visit http://hivaidsphilanthropy.pfizer.com/.
New Voices is a national leadership development program that helps nonprofit organizations recruit or retain innovative, new talent. It awards salary-support grants to small nonprofits demonstrating a commitment to cultivating and strengthening the leadership potential of creative and diverse "new voices" in the field. During the next three grant cycles, New Voices will focus on addressing needs, solving problems, and defending human rights related to the impact on the Gulf Coast of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Organizations in the Gulf Coast Region with missions and activities focused on one or more of the following issue areas should consider applying: HIV/AIDS; Civil Rights; Disability Rights; Economic Justice; Education Equity and Reform; Environmental Justice; Poverty Reduction; Health Care Rights and Policy Reform; Housing Rights and Policy Reform; Human Rights; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Rights; Migrant and Refugee Rights; Racial Justice and Race Relations; Reproductive Rights; Sentencing and Prison Reform; Women's Rights; Worker's Rights; and Youth Leadership Development.
Applications for the New Voices Fellowship are due February 5, 2007. For more information, please visit http://newvoices.aed.org/home.html.
Announcements
December 1st was World AIDS Day. To share what programs you organized for World AIDS Day in the January Monthly Monitor, please contact Urooj.
Resources
For Resources on Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Young Women, please check out the following:
You can help Advocates for Youth with a contribution today. To donate, visit http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/donatetoday.htm
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