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This
Month’s Contents: MESSAGE
FROM SYLVIA RUIZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NATIONAL
RESOURCES 1.
New from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unintended
Pregnancy 2.
New from Advocates for Youth 3.
New
from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 4.
New from the Office of Juvenile Justice LOCAL
RESOURCES - EVENTS
AND NOTICES Commission
on the Status of Women Soroptimist
International - Duke City Club Message
from the Young Father’s Project |
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MESSAGE
FROM SYLVIA RUIZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR This month’s
message is about people who are involved in the work of NMTPC. I am
so grateful for the great work done in support of NMTPC and the people of
New Mexico by all of our employees, volunteers and friends who care about
the youth of the State. Ramon Arroyos, of the NMTPC office in Dona
Ana County, is leaving NMTPC for another position. NMTPC appreciates
all your work in support of New Mexico youth, Ramon, and we wish you
well. Gary Madrid, who works in the office in Las Cruces with Ramon
and has many years experience working with teen pregnancy issues, will
assume the duties of Las Cruces Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention
Director. I would also
like to take this opportunity to thank Judy Baca and the NM Department of
Health employees in the South Valley for all of the support they have
given to the Hablando Claro/Plain Talk site at the South Valley Commons.
We appreciate all of your assistance and support.
Thank you to
all of our partners across New Mexico for the work you
do.
Hasta
Luego, Executive
Director New
Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition 505-254-8737 505-254-8741
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1.
New from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unintended
Pregnancy New Materials
Also Available On Latino Teens,YRBS, and Fathers Science Says
#35 examines in
detail the relationship between Latino teens’ sexual behavior and such
measures as generational status, language, and country of
origin. Some of the key
findings from the new research include: • More than
one-third of Latino teens in this survey report having had sex before age
16 and two-thirds had sex before age 18. • In general,
third generation Latino teens are more likely to use contraception the
first time they have sex and are more likely to use it consistently than
first or second generation Latino teens. Science Says
#36 provides a
detailed examination of the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance
System report. Key points
include: • In 2007,
nearly half (48%) of all high school students reported ever having had
sexual intercourse. • The
proportion of students who have ever had sex increases with a grade
level. One-third of 9th grade students report that they have ever
had sex compared to 44% of 10th grade students, 56% of 11th grade
students, and nearly two thirds (65%) of 12th grade students. Put another
way, by 12th grade two out of three students report having ever had
sex. Men in the
United States: Unplanned Pregnancy, Sexual Activity, and Contraceptive Use
examines
unplanned pregnancy and sexual behavior among men by age, race/ethnicity,
living arrangement, father’s relationship status at the time of the birth
of his first child, condom use, and other measures. Primary
findings include: • Most births
fathered by teen and young adult men are unplanned (69% to those under age
18, 60% to those aged 18-19, and 52% to those aged
20-24). State Efforts
to Prevent Unplanned Pregnancy Rates of
unplanned pregnancy among single, young adults have remained essentially
stable over the past decade. At the same time, a growing body of research
shows that unplanned pregnancy among adults often results in a number of
negative outcomes for children and families, including late entry into
prenatal care, abuse and neglect, behavioral and cognitive deficits,
economic hardship, and relationship and family turmoil. In response
to these two imperatives, a growing number of states are doing important
work to prevent unplanned pregnancy through state and local family
planning and human service programs, community health clinics, and other
approaches to promoting pregnancy planning among women and
men. Recently The
National Campaign was delighted to host a conference call on state efforts
to reduce unplanned pregnancy. More than 150 people from 36 states, DC,
and Puerto Rico participated in the call. The call was
led by: • Claire
Brindis, Dr. P.H., Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies,
University of California, San Francisco • Laurie
Weaver, M.D., Chief, Office of Family Planning, California Department
of Public Health • Deborah
Harris, Women’s Health Coordinator, Division of Women’s and Infants’
Health, Virginia Department of Health • Larry
Humbert, Executive Director, Indiana Perinatal
Network • Christie
Vilsack, Executive Director, Iowa Initiative, and Former First Lady of
Iowa •
Kimberlydawn Wisdom, MD, MS, Surgeon General, Michigan and member
of the National Campaign’s Board of Directors Visit www.thenationalcampaign.org/sla
to learn more
about the exciting and innovative state efforts underway. Disparities Teen pregnancy
rates in the United States have declined substantially since the early
1990s among all racial and ethnic groups. Even so, there have been real
disparities in that progress. Moreover, recent data suggest that the
significant progress the nation has made in reducing teen sexual activity,
improving contraceptive use among sexually active teens, and reducing the
teen birth rate has stagnated and/or reversed—for minorities in
particular. All of which
suggests that our nation cannot afford to become complacent in its efforts
to reduce the high level of teen pregnancy. We must concentrate additional
efforts to support various racial and ethnic communities that are
disproportionately affected by early pregnancy and parenthood. By
preventing teen pregnancy, we can make progress on other troubling social
issues that also disproportionately affect many minority youth including
academic failure and poverty. Recently, the
National Campaign hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill on racial and ethnic
disparities in teen pregnancy. The briefing was held in conjunction
with • the CBC
Health Braintrust, • the CAPAC
Health Task Force, • the CHC Task
Force on Health and Environment, • the
Congressional Hispanic Conference, and • the
Congressional Native American Caucus. National
Campaign Board Member Maria Echaveste moderated the panel discussion that
included National Campaign Latino Initiative Advisory Group Member Alvarro
Simmons, Chief Operating Officer at the Mary’s Center. The panel also
featured three National Campaign Youth Leadership Team members—Taylor
McCleod, Bridget Rekow, and Staphany Suarez—who shared their unique
perspectives on why they became involved in teen pregnancy prevention in
their respective communities and possible solutions to the
problem. •
53 percent of Latina
teens and 51 percent of African -American teen girls will become pregnant
at least once before they turn 20.
In comparison, only 19 percent of non-Hispanic white teen girls under the
age of 20 become pregnant. •
The overall teen
birth rate increased 3 percent between 2005 and 2006, the first increase
in 15 years .
The overall rate includes increases among most minority groups. For
example, between 2005 and 2006 the teen birth rate increased 5 percent for
African-Americans, 4 percent for Native Americans and 2 percent for
Latinas. •
The
most recent national teen pregnancy data available are from 2004.
The
teen pregnancy rate decreased for teens overall and for most racial/ethnic
groups between 2003 and 2004. However, the teen pregnancy rate increased
slightly for Latina teens.
For the first time, Latina teens now have the highest rates of both teen
pregnancies and births. What
Policymakers Can Do There are many
different solutions to the widespread problems of teen and unplanned
pregnancy, at the individual and societal level, and public policy
certainly plays a key role. The following public policy actions would help
ensure that teens and young adults have the necessary tools to make wise
choices regarding pregnancy and childbearing: • Include
pregnancy prevention as an essential element in health care reform.
While chronic
disease prevention has become a key element in the discussion of health
care reform, more attention should also be paid to pregnancy prevention,
which has both health and fiscal implications for consumers and tax payers
alike. • Help change
social norms by using various media. Teens and young
adults are voracious media consumers— for entertainment, information, and
communicating with peers. Lawmakers have harnessed the power of the media
for other important public health goals by funding various public service
and communication campaigns. • Invest in
preventing teen pregnancy among vulnerable populations. Despite
substantial progress in reducing teen pregnancy in all states and among
all ethnic and racial groups, there are disparities in that progress. For
example, 53 percent of Latina teens become pregnant at least once before
age 20. Additionally, by age 19, nearly half of all teen girls in foster
care have been pregnant at least once. • Support
parents and other caring adults in communicating their values to the teens
in their lives. Teens
consistently say that parents most influence their decisions about
sex. However, the vast majority of parents (82%) agree that when it
comes to talking about sex, they often don’t know what to say, how to say
it, or when to start the conversation. • Increase the
focus on the responsibilities of men in preventing teen and unplanned
pregnancy. More than half
of pregnancies reported by unmarried men in their 20s are unplanned. More
must be done to involve men in a meaningful way to prevent unplanned
pregnancy—both primary prevention and prevention of subsequent pregnancies
by men who already have a least one child. • Ensure
greater access to affordable services and information that help prevent
unplanned pregnancy, including subsequent pregnancies, for the uninsured
and underinsured. Medicaid, Title
X, and SCHIP all play a vital role in providing family planning to
lower-income families, but are not able to meet the need. In 2002, 16.8
million women were in need of publicly subsidized family planning
services, yet public funding was able to serve only 6.7 million women.
Also, investing in evidence-based programs that help reduce subsequent
unplanned pregnancies— which make up 72 percent of all unplanned
pregnancies among unmarried 20-somethings—could improve maternal and child
health and well-being. • Eliminate
barriers to affordable family planning. A key element
of preventing unplanned pregnancy is ensuring that sexually active
individuals have access to affordable family planning, whether through
private insurance or safety-net clinics including college health
centers. Provide states and communities with the flexibility and
funding to put in place medically-accurate interventions to educate young
people about responsible sexual behavior. Most American parents and teens
agree that young people benefit from both a strong message of abstinence
and information that will help them avoid pregnancy and STDs if and when
they become sexually active. There is evidence that a growing number of
programs that include abstinence messages and also give complete and
accurate information about contraception can delay sexual activity,
improve contraceptive use, and/or prevent teen pregnancy. States and
communities would benefit from funding for such programs, along with
flexibility to select teen pregnancy approaches that they believe are best
suited to local values and cultures. It is also important to invest in
developing, refining, and assessing the effectiveness of a full range of
programs to reduce teen pregnancy. • Emphasize the
connection between prevention of teen and unplanned pregnancy and healthy
relationships and marriage. There has been
a significant policy focus on and investment in promoting healthy
relationships and marriage in order to advance child well-being. Unplanned
pregnancy has a negative impact on relationship stability and child
wellbeing. Seven in ten pregnancies among unmarried women are unplanned.
Programs addressing relationships and marriage should also educate women
and men about the benefits of pregnancy planning both on their
relationships and on outcomes for their children. • Strengthen
data collection and knowledge on pregnancy and childbearing.
Although birth
data is generally accessible, comparable data on sexual activity,
contraceptive use, pregnancy, and abortion are more difficult to obtain,
are collected episodically, and tend to become available years after they
are collected. Additionally, only 38 states and New York City
collect data about unplanned pregnancy in their state or community, making
it challenging to determine progress and needs at the state level.
Download a copy
of this policy brief at www.TheNationalCampaign.org/policymakers. 2.
New from Advocates for Youth Comprehensive Sex Education
Works
Adolescents
receiving comprehensive sex education had a substantially lower risk of
teenage pregnancy than students who received either abstinence-only
education or no education at all, according to a new, groundbreaking study
published in the Journal of Adolescent
Health. The
study, conducted by Pamela K. Kohler, M.P.H., Lisa E. Manhart, Ph.D., and
William E. Lafferty, M.D., also concluded that teaching about
contraception did not increase sexual activity or sexually transmitted
diseases. “The
sexual health statistics in America are alarming,” said Debra Hauser,
executive vice president of Advocates for Youth. “We know that 1 in 4 teen
girls have a sexually transmitted disease, that the HIV rate among African
American young men who have sex with men has increased by 80 percent, and
that the teen birth rate has increased for the first time in fourteen
years.” “We
must, absolutely must, stop censoring sexual health information about
contraception and condoms and start investing in programs that we know
work,” concluded Hauser. “The blame for these negative health statistics
rests squarely with this Administration’s push for ineffective
abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.” To
date, seventeen states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa,
Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New
York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming - have rejected
federal Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funding for these failed
programs. In
addition, over the last ten years, a number of other reports and studies
have sent clear signals that funding abstinence-only-until-marriage
programs was wrong:
3.
New
from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2008 CFLE
Conference - SAVE THE DATE! Dear
Colleagues: We wanted you
to be among the first to know of our 2008 conference
plans! Please
see the attached flyer and please hold the date --- November 13,
2008 in Somerset, NJ --- and plan to join us for our annual
SEX ED conference. Just as in past years, this year’s
conference promises to be an exciting and useful learning forum!
CFLE educators are busily preparing workshops on sex ed for folks with
developmental disabilities, new ways to teach with interactive games,
using popular media (such as the Juno movie) for sex ed, and utilizing
YouTube, Wikipedia, and other electronic resources as sex education
allies. In addition, we will be joined by an array of leading voices
in sex education including David Hall, Jean Levitan, and Mike McGee
(former VP of Education for Planned Parenthood Federation of
America). We do
hope you will join us, and we also hope you will share this announcement
with appropriate colleagues and list servs. Sincerely, The Center for
Family Life Education Planned
Parenthood of Greater Northern NJ 4.
From the Office of Juvenile Justice Bulletin
Evaluates Children's Advocacy Centers' Response to Child Sexual
Abuse The Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has published
"Evaluating Children's Advocacy Centers' Response to Child Sexual Abuse
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=240233 Children's
Advocacy Centers were developed to create a sensitive environment for
child abuse interviews, provide victims and their families with medical
and child protection services, and
coordinate abuse investigations. This bulletin
describes the findings of a study by researchers at the University of New
Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center (www.unh.edu/ccrc) that
evaluated the effectiveness of the centers' response to child sexual
abuse. Resources:
"Evaluating
Children's Advocacy Centers' Response to Child Sexual Abuse" is available
online only at http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=240233. Missouri's
Juvenile Justice System Earns National Recognition The
Missouri Department of Social Services'
Division
of Youth Services
has been honored with the prestigious Innovations in
American Government Award
by Harvard University's Ash Institute. Resources:
For
additional information, see the Ash Institute's press release at http://content.knowledgeplex.org/streams/ksg/AshInstitute/09.09.08_DYS.pdf.
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Each
month the New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition provides a review of the
research and policy reports distributed by National and Local Resources
for your information only. The
information, and comments expressed in this News Flash as well as any of
the information distributed do not necessarily reflect the position of the
NMTPC or its funders. Therefore, NMTPC assumes no responsibility for
the concepts expressed in this NEWS
FLASH. | ||
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Local
Events & Notices From
the Commission on the Status of Women Since our
program’s inception in 2004, New Mexico has
continued to show their unwavering support of girls in our state!
The first ever state sponsored conference for girls brought 500
teenagers from around the state for a weekend of inspiration, empowerment
and celebration! It was made possible by the generosity of New
Mexican citizens and companies who sponsored a girl through the Amiga
Scholarship fund. Now a nationally recognized event, the NM
Commission on the Status of Women is hosting the 3rd annual conference for girls – Believe in New
Mexico Girls 2008 Health and Safety Conference. Your
contribution of $100 is an opportunity for you to tell the girls you care
about their futures and your tax-deductible donation allows girls from all
parts of the state to attend. Not only is their conference admission and
meals covered, but girls will be exposed to opportunities in higher
education, encouragement to look at careers in the medical fields,
information on prevention of relationship violence, and ways to increase
their self-esteem and self-worth. The
Believe in New Mexico Girls 2008 Health and Safety Conference is
open to all girls, ages 15-18, in New Mexico and the NM Commission on
Status of Women and collaborating partners want to offer this experience
free of charge for the girls. Your contribution assures no girl
who wants to participate will be left out of this inspiring and empowering
event. Won’t you send the message that you care about the future of New Mexico girls? Please make your check out our 501c3 fiscal agent, the New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition. Sponsor one girl or 10! A receipt will be given for your tax purposes. We look forward to your partnership. Your business or organization will be listed as a scholarship provider and acknowledged for your generous contribution. If you need
more information on Believe in New Mexico Girls 2008 or have
questions, please contact our Girls Program Coordinator, Kathi Brown at
800-432-9168 or via email at info@nmgirlsinstitute.org
From
Soroptimist International – Duke City Club Now
Accepting Nominations Albuquerque,
NM (September 2, 2008) The Soroptimist
International – Duke City Club, a volunteer group of professional
women whose mission and core purpose is to improve the lives of women and
girls, is now accepting nominations for their annual Women’s
Opportunity Award. The Women’s
Opportunity Award is a $1,000 cash grant that gives women the
resources they need to improve their education, skills and employment
prospects. Eligible applicants must be women who provide the primary
financial support for their families, and who are enrolled in or have been
accepted to a vocational/skills training program or an undergraduate
degree program. “The local
Soroptimist club is honored to assist women reclaim their dreams of a
better life,” states Club Co-President, Marina Colon. “We want to
recognize women who are motivated to achieve their educational and career
goals.” Each year,
Soroptimist clubs in 25 countries and territories assist women in
overcoming personal difficulties and bettering their lives through
education and skills training. The women granted the award may use
the cash assistance to offset costs associated with their efforts to
attain higher education, including books, childcare and
transportation. The local program recipient will then become
eligible for the regions and national awards. Currently, each
Soroptimist region grants one first-place award of $5,000 and those
recipients are then eligible to receive one of the three $10,000 finalist
awards. The deadline
for submissions is Monday, December 1, 2008 and applications can be
obtained by calling Soroptimist International –Duke City Club at 797-8032
or by visiting www.freewebs.com/siadukecity.
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Message
from the Young Fathers’ Project The
Young Fathers’ Project sends out a great big thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Lee
Maisel for their generous donation through the Albuquerque Community
Foundation. Referral
form for the New Mexico
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Back issues of
NEWS FLASH are available at our
web site. If you want to
be removed from the NEWS FLASH monthly list serve, click here
to email us New Mexico Teen
Pregnancy Coalition
PO
Box 35997 Albuquerque,
NM 87176 Physical
Address: 540 Chama NE, Suite 11, Albuquerque, NM
87108 Phone: (505)
254-8737 Fax: (505)
254-8741 Email:
nmtpc@nmtpc.org Web site:
www.nmtpc.org *** NEWS
FLASH is funded by
grants from New Mexico
Department of Health Family Planning
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