Advocates’ Youth Activist Network (YAN) consists of young people from across the United States and around the globe. We represent the beginning of a global youth movement fighting for every young person’s right to honest sexual health information and affordable sexual health services.

Join us as we work to change irresponsible policies that deny young people information that could help us protect our health and even save our lives. Help us to shape our world into one that recognizes adolescent sexual development as normal and healthy and recognizes young people as leaders in the fight for social and reproductive justice.

Join the Youth Activist Network!

Amplify is both the online home of the YAN and a fully-integrated hub for online activism and youth-led movement building. Dedicated to issues of sexual health and reproductive justice throughout the United States and around the world, Amplify will be a forum for activists to build their skills, forge connections, share ideas, and expand the scope of youth involvement on-line and on the ground.

The YAN consists of the following groups of youth leaders:

Campus Organizers

The Campus Organizing Team is made up of college students from campus organizations across the United States working to mobilize and empower other students in the fight for honest sex education, condom/contraceptive access, the rights of GLBTQ youth, and HIV prevention, among others.  Campus Organizers serve as activists, advocates, and spokespeople at the local, state, and national level.

Great American Condom Campaign SafeSites

The Great American Condom Campaign is an underground, grassroots network of college students working to reduce unintended pregnancies and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections by distributing 1,000,000 free condoms on college and university campuses across the country.  This youth-led campaign operates on over 800 campuses throughout the United States.

International Youth Activist Network (iYAN)

The International Youth Activist Network consists of young people and youth-led NGOs in the developing world, advocating for programs and policies that will improve youth reproductive and sexual health in their countries and internationally. iYAN leaders advocate on issues such as the increasing impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on women; improving access to treatment and care for HIV positive youth; increasing youth access to sexual health education, contraception, and condoms; and preventing maternal illness, injury, and death among young mothers. They work on these issues by lobbying stakeholders on domestic policies; raising public awareness through the media; mobilizing peers to take action; and participating and taking a leadership role at international conferences. Through the International Youth Speak Out Project, IYAN Councils have already been started in Jamaica, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.

International Youth Leadership Council (IYLC)

International Youth Leadership Council (IYLC) is made up of young people with family ties to and/or interest in the developing world. These youth leaders work to improve US foreign policy regarding global HIV prevention and international family planning.

Council members serve as youth educators, advocates, and spokespeople on issues of adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Council members develop media outreach campaigns, conduct policy forums, plan and run press conferences, participate in advocacy visits to policy makers, and attend conferences to further the goals of the International Youth Leadership Council.

MySistahs Online Peer Educators

MySistahs is a Web site created by and for young women of color to provide information and offer support on sexual and reproductive health issues through education and advocacy. Through monthly features, message boards, and online peer education, the MySistahs peer educators provide young women with information on activism, culture, sexual health, and other issues that are important to them.

State Activists

Advocates for Youth works with state youth activists in target states on Youth Leadership Councils which advocate for comprehensive sex education in their communities. Their goal is to mobilize people in their state to fight for honest, responsible sex education and to ensure that young people are listened to and have a voice within the debate.

Young Women of Color Leadership Council (YWOC LC)

Due to the alarming rates of HIV and AIDS among young women of color, the Young Women of Color Leadership Council was started in 2002 to empower, educate and include young women of color in HIV prevention efforts and to build youth leaders. YWOCLC consists of young women from all across the United States who have come together to prevent the spread of HIV in their communities, especially among other young women of color. These dynamic young women educate their peers so they will become involved in fighting HIV in their respective communities.

YouthResource Online Peer Educators

YouthResource, a Web site by and for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning (GLBTQ) young people explores issues of concern to GLBTQ youth. The Online Peer Educators answer questions posed by visitors and point visitors to they resources they need. They also write articles for the YouthResource Web site.