“I choose to fight for sex education so that people understand that sex ed isn’t a taboo, it’s a necessity. These are our bodies and we have the right to know about them so we can make informed decisions.”
– CLIFF, STUDENT ORGANIZER
Forty years of advocacy for sex education
Advocates for Youth works with young people, parents, educators, policy makers, health care providers, and youth serving professionals around the country and in the Global South to ensure young people get the sex education they need.
Rights, Respect, Responsibility: A K-12 Sexuality Education Curriculum
This K-12 comprehensive sex education curriculum is fully mapped to the National Sexuality Education Standards, covers all 16 topics deemed essential by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is LGBTQ-inclusive, trauma informed and culturally responsive. Training is not necessary to use the curriculum, but is available.
The Future of Sex Education
The Future of Sex Education Project (FoSE) began in July 2007 when staff from Advocates for Youth, Answer and SIECUS first met to discuss the future of sex education in the United States. In 2012 FoSE released the groundbreaking National Sexuality Education Standards. FoSE continues to work create a national dialogue about the future of sex education and to promote the institutionalization of comprehensive sexuality education in public schools.
AMAZE
AMAZE (www.amaze.org and YouTube.com/amazeorg) is a partnership between Advocates, Answer and Youth Tech Health that harnesses the power of animation and social media to provide very young adolescents with age-appropriate, comprehensive, and affirming sexuality education through short animated videos, in addition to resources for parents and educators. Grounded in gender equality and human rights, AMAZE videos address puberty, healthy relationships, personal safety, including consent, sexual assault, and bullying, pregnancy and reproduction, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, sexual orientation and gender identity, and much more. Advocates spearheads AMAZE globally and partners with organizations to support regional initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean (https://amaze.org/es/) and East and Southern Africa (https://amaze.org/za/), as well as collaborations in-country with local organizations, such as in South Korea and Japan. For more information about AMAZE internationally, contact: nicole@advocatesforyouth.org.
Virtual Professional Development
Advocates for Youth recognizes that there are many skills effective educators need to master in order to teach sexuality education. These skills are outlined in the Professional Learning Standards for Sex Education, released in Spring 2019. Given limited time and differing needs for each teacher during in-person PD, teachers often don’t get a chance to practice in a way that can further their unique needs and support their professional growth. Virtual PD is a simulated classroom where teachers can practice teaching student avatars using short scenarios and support from an instructional coach, so they can quickly learn and master the skills they most need to be effective. With upper elementary, middle and high school classrooms, Virtual PD has scenarios for teachers of all grade levels across s wide range of topics.
Working to Institutionalize Sex Education (WISE)
Through the course of the Working to Institutionalize Sex Education (WISE) Initiative, the "WISE Method," an iterative, dynamic approach to implementing sexual health education, emerged from the experience of the organizations participating in WISE (whom we call WISE Partners). Informal sharing of successes, resources and tools led to the creation of this toolkit, which documents the WISE Method and can be utilized by a larger community of practitioners. Advocates for Youth supports district specific work in Pennsylvania and Florida in an effort to scale the reach of the WISE Initiative outside of states served directly by WISE partners. Advocates for Youth also serves as the national technical assistance provider to the entirety of the WISE Initiative. In addition to technical assistance and training specific to all aspects of the WISE Method, Advocates for Youth facilitates the WISE learning community (online and in person) to ensure learning is shared across diverse geographies.
Visit www.AMAZE.org, age-appropriate animated videos for adolescents ages 10 to 14 about sex, sexuality, and relationships.