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May 2007 Monthly Monitor
Advocates for Youth's Youth of Color Initiative
Feature: Faith & Religion
Religious institutions serve more teens than any other community agency besides schools, and they are the only ones specifically empowered to do so from the moral perspectives of their congregations.[1] Additionally, more than 60 percent of American youth spend at least one hour per week in activities in a church, synagogue, or other community of faith.[2]
Some organizations work to address sexuality and reproductive health issues within religious institutions. Three such organizations are:
Balm In Gilead is a not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization with an international mission to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS throughout the African diaspora by building the capacity of faith communities to provide HIV and AIDS education and support networks for all people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. Balm In Gilead's pioneering achievements have enabled thousands of faith communities to become leaders in preventing HIV. Through Balm In Gilead, faith communities provide comprehensive educational programs and offer compassionate support to encourage HIV-infected people to seek and maintain treatment.
Balm In Gilead sponsors the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS. This year's event occurred from March 4-10, 2007. This national HIV and AIDS awareness campaign seeks to engage black congregations to support, encourage, and empower African Americans, Africans and all people of the African diaspora to act to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS in Black communities worldwide. The Balm in Gilead also has a program called Our Church Lights the Way, the Black church HIV testing campaign that engages the support of the Black pulpit to empower and support individuals to get tested for HIV. For more information on Balm In Gilead, please visit http://www.balmingilead.org.
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is composed of numerous religious and spiritual organizations that support reproductive choice and religious freedom. The Coalition seeks to give clear voice to the reproductive issues of people of color, those living in poverty, and other underserved populations. The Coalition supports access to sex education, family planning and contraception, affordable child care and health care, and adoption services as well as safe, legal, abortion services, regardless of income.
One of the initiatives of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is the National Black Church Initiative. The National Black Church Initiative encourages and assists African American clergy and laity in addressing teen childbearing, sexuality education, unintended pregnancies, and other reproductive health issues within the context of African American Culture and Religion.
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice has another initiative called the La Iniciativa Latina. The goal of La Iniciativa Latina is to assist Latino communities in addressing human sexuality from a faith-informed perspective. This assistance is made possible through education, training, and open forums on subjects including but not limited to comprehensive sexuality education, reproductive health and justice education, teen pregnancy prevention, and HIV/AIDS from a religious perspective that reflects an understanding of Latino culture.
Lastly, the Coalition has also developed "Keeping it Real!" a faith-based sexuality education dialogue model created for African American teens. "Keeping It Real!" prepares youth to make healthy, responsible decisions as spiritual and sexual beings. The seven-week curriculum of facilitated dialogue and activities is one of the first organized efforts in African American faith communities to address sex and sexuality in both a biblical and secular context. African American educators and ministers now have a model to break the silence about sex and sexuality and begin an open dialogue with youth.
For more information on the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, visit http://www.rcrc.org.
Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing is an ecumenical, interfaith organization that advocates for sexual health, education, and justice in faith communities and in society. The primary objectives of the Religious Institute include:
- Developing and supporting a network of clergy, religious educators, theologians, ethicists, and other religious leaders committed to sexual justice;
- Building the capacity of religious institutions and clergy to offer sex education within the context of their own faith tradition;
- Helping congregations become sexually healthy communities of faith; and
Educating the public and policy makers about the Institute';s vision of sexual morality, justice, and
- healing.
For more information on Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, please visit http://www.religiousinstitute.org
References:
- Haffner D. Reaching out to Faith Communities: a Guide for Sexual and Reproductive Health Organization. New York: Religious Institute, 2006.
- Benson PL, Scales PC, Roehlkepartain EC. A Fragile Foundation: The State of Developmental Assets among American Youth. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute, 1999.
Capacity Building & Professional Development
Teaching Strategies for Successful Partnerships in HIV/AIDS/STDs and Human Sexuality Education will be held from June 13-15, 2007 at the Kansas City Airport Hilton.
For more information, please visit http://conferences.ksde.org/tssp
The 2007 National HIV Prevention Conference will be held in Atlanta, GA from December 2-5, 2007. This unique conference covers the entire spectrum of HIV prevention, from science to programs. It convenes HIV prevention experts and advocates from various backgrounds and communities nationwide.
For additional info regarding the conference, please visit the http://www.2007nhpc.org or call the conference hotline at (800) 772-8232. You may also contact them via email at info@2S007NHPC.org.
The National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality will be held July 11-13, 2007 at Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC .Black clergy, laity, and youth will continue the dialogue on critical issues affecting the African American community, including teen pregnancy, sexuality and religion, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS.
For more information, please visit http://www.rcrc.org/programs/blackchurch.cfm
Funding Opportunities
Request for Applications for the Prevention of HIV/AIDS in Women Living in the Rural South Program: This grant is to promote collaborative efforts to provide accurate HIV/AIDS prevention education to women living in the rural South. The emphasis of these efforts is on education and prevention counseling covering the full spectrum of primary and secondary prevention, adapted to a female-centered perspective. Application kits may be obtained by accessing http://www.grants.gov/.
Announcements
May 19 is the National Asian and Pacific Islander (API) HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This observance day intends to raise awareness among Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. about the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today there are an estimated 1.039 million to 1.185 million HIV-positive individuals living in the U.S. AIDS has killed more than 20 million people since the first cases were diagnosed in 1981. For APIs, one of the fastest-growing ethnic/racial populations in the U.S., HIV/AIDS is on the rise. According to the CDC, the number of APIs living with AIDS has climbed by more than 10 percent in each of the last 5 years. The number of adult and adolescent APIs diagnosed with AIDS through 2004 was 7,317.
Read Advocates' new publication "From Research to Practice: The Sexual Health of Young Asian-American/Pacific Islander Women".
For more information on National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day please visit http://www.omhrc.gov/hivaidsobservances/api/index.html
The Kaiser Family Foundation has issued a new data update showing variations across states and racial and ethnic groups for six key health and health care indicators. The data update provides a quick glance at disparities in rates of infant mortality, diabetes-related mortality and AIDS cases among whites, African Americans and Hispanics in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It also provides similar breakdowns showing the percentage of each group in each state that is uninsured, enrolled in Medicaid, and living in poverty.
Key Health and Health Care Indicators by Race/Ethnicity is drawn from the more than 30 state-specific indicators related to race and ethnicity available on Kaiser's http://statehealthfacts.org/.
The data update is available at http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/7633.cfm
Sex Etc. is looking for an Online Content Manager for it's web site, a major component of the Teen-to-Teen project, the premier source for honest, comprehensive sexuality information for teens. The website is the primary vehicle for national brand awareness of Sex Etc. and is an integral part of Answer's public face, drawing hundreds of thousands of youth and professionals who work with youth per year.
For more information, please visit http://uhr.rutgers.edu/jobpostings/aps/Detail.asp?T1=07-000456&x=38&y=7
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has unveiled a new Web site designed to improve the usability and performance of http://www.cdc.gov. The new CDC.gov Web site provides better access to health and safety topics, data and statistics, news and events, and expanded tools and resources, as well as an improved search engine. The new Web site is user-centered, based on research, and is the product of extensive user testing of CDC's principal audiences.
CDC.gov's new features include:
- CDC Features - timely articles keep you informed on important health topics
- Health and Safety Topics - content organized for better browsing CDC For You - CDC resources grouped for specific audiences
- New Search Engine - relevant search results and "suggested topics"
- A-Z Index - alphabetical listing of all of CDC's online information
- Top 20 List - see what's popular on CDC.gov
- Data & Statistics - public health data, survey results, and trends
- Tools & Resources - calculators, photos, podcasts, and other helpful tools
- Publications - MMWR, EID, and other journals, newsletters, periodicals
- What's New - quick links to what's new on CDC.gov
- E-mail Updates - CDC.gov updates emailed to your inbox
- Tag Cloud - graphic representation of most requested CDC.gov topics
Resources
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