MOAPPP March 2011 E-Monthly

The 2011 Conference Brochure is in the Mail and Online Registration is Now Open!

MOAPPP March 2011 E-Monthly The MOAPPP Annual Conference is Minnesota’s most comprehensive training event covering current research, educational resources, policy initiatives and emerging issues related to adolescent sexual health, pregnancy prevention and support for adolescent parents. It promises to be two days filled with renowned speakers, challenging, informative, skill-building workshops and many opportunities for networking and conversation. MOAPPP is also excited to tell you that we will announce our smarter, SHORTER, teen-friendly identity at the start of the conference!

Early Registration deadline is April 15, 2011. For more information and to register, visit the MOAPPP conference page.

Call for Exhibitors
Join us as an exhibitor for the 20th Annual MOAPPP Conference! Visit the MOAPPP conference page for more information and an application.

LAST CALL FOR NOMINATIONS – MOAPPP Annual Awards
We will accept nominations until March 18 in the following categories:

Advocate of the Year
Outstanding Individual of the Year
Program of the Year
Teen of the Year
Judy Ojeda Community Partner of the Year (this award is dedicated to Judy Ojeda, MOAPPP’s former Outreach Coordinator who died unexpectedly in 2009).

To nominate a person or organization in any of these categories, please complete a nomination form (PDF) and send it to Brigid Riley, MOAPPP Executive Director at [email protected].

Join us on Thursday, May 12th at Solera for “Wise-Up” – a celebration of MOAPPP’s Twenty Years of Guiding Adults to Empower Teens. This special evening will include great food, sensational music and fabulous live and silent auction opportunities. Be there to celebrate the retiring of MOAPPP’s name and to initiate our smarter, shorter, teen-friendly identity!

Registration for this event will open on March 18, 2011. Tickets are $125 per person and sponsorship packages are available. For additional information, contact Erin at [email protected] or 651-644-1447 x12.

Please Tell Us What You Think About Your Work with Pregnant and Parenting Teens!

MOAPPP is partnering with Stephanie Dibb, a graduate clinical social work student at the University of St. Thomas, to discover how service providers working with pregnant and parenting teenagers perceive teenage pregnancy and what services your program offers. It is a quick 14-question survey (shouldn’t take more than five minutes) and responses are anonymous. You will be asked to electronically sign a consent form before you start the survey stating you agree to participate. All participation would be greatly appreciated and valued! Click here to take the survey.

National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is May 4, 2011. Start planning how to engage your young people and encourage them to take the National Day Quiz. For details about the day, check out the National Day website.

May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month

It’s not too early to start planning how your organization can promote May as National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month (NTPPM). Observed each May by states and communities throughout the country, NTPPM seeks to involve communities in promoting and supporting effective teen pregnancy prevention initiatives. A great resource is a publication by Advocates for Youth: National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month (NTPPM) Planning Guidebook (PDF). This guidebook provides strategic tips and examples to help local communities plan and implement activities for NTPPM. It also includes fact sheets, guidance for involving youth and working with the media and sample forms.

Other Announcements

Severe Federal Budget Cuts Recommended by U.S. House

In February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) for fiscal year 2011 that proposes severe cuts – or completely eliminates – funding for several programs that address adolescent sexual health, including:

Complete elimination of the Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative at the Office of Adolescent Health ($110 million in FY 2010),
Complete elimination of the Title X Family Planning Program ($317.5 million in FY 2010),
Significant reduction in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (reduce by $850 million from FY 2010), and
Significant reductions in funding for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant (reduce by $50 million from FY 2010) and Community Health Centers (reduce by $1 billion from FY 2010).

MOAPPP joins organizations across the country in urging the Senate to recognize the value of these programs and pass a continuing resolution that neither cuts nor eliminates them. Please contact Senators Klobuchar and Franken to let them know how much support there is in the state for this important funding.

Adolescent Family Life Program Slated for De-Funding, Too

President Obama’s 2012 budget eliminates the Adolescent Family Life Program. A portion of this tiny program is the only funding – across all federal funding streams – to address much needed support services for young families. MOAPPP recommends keeping this funding stream intact, but narrowing its focus to only teen parent support programs. Please contact your Congressional Representative and Senators to let them know what an important role this funding plays in the lives of young parents.

Healthy Teen Network has created an online resource with information about the program.

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness – March 20, 2011

March 20, 2011 will mark the fifth annual National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This day is an opportunity to increase awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. For more information about National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and for downloadable resources, visit www.nnaapc.org, www.happ.colostate.edu and www.itcaonline.com. Watch the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) website for local fact sheets, updates and activities here. A Governor’s Proclamation and corresponding news release will be developed by MDH on behalf of the observance.

Good News from the National Women’s Law Center

Recently, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) adopted a new policy to ensure that its homebound/hospitalized instruction program would no longer discriminate against pregnant and parenting students. The National Women’s Law Center advocated for this policy change after being contacted by a pregnant student at a Michigan high school whose school did not offer her homebound instruction services when she was recovering from childbirth, despite the state law requirement that all school districts in Michigan provide access to homebound instruction to students with prolonged absences due to a medical condition. Thankfully, MDE was responsive to their concerns and changed the guidelines, making it clear that schools could not exclude eligible pregnant students and those recovering from childbirth from receiving homebound or hospitalized instruction services.

Unfortunately, Michigan is not the only state where pregnant and parenting students experience discrimination that can push them out of school. Help the National Women’s Law Center weed out discriminatory treatment and unfair educational practices. Send your school’s policy for homebound/hospitalized instruction (or any other policy you think impacts the educational success of pregnant and parenting students) to Sue Fust, [email protected]. It will be forwarded to the National Women’s Law Center for review.

Speak Up, Minnesota!

Minnesota faces a state budget deficit that is dire, urgent and serious for our state’s nonprofit organizations and communities. We know you care deeply about the choices that state legislators are facing and that Minnesota’s nonprofit organizations have critical information that can help state legislators make informed decisions.

That’s why this week the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits launched the Minnesota Speaks Up campaign to ask nonprofits to Speak Up at this critical time in Minnesota. The idea is simple: get to know your legislators and provide them with critical information about your organization and community.

Will you invite your state Senator and Representative to visit your nonprofit in their district to share the story of the needs and opportunities in your community? Please visit the MCN website for more information.

For Youth

Seeking Youth Focus Group Participants

Researchers from the Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare and the University of British Columbia, under the direction of Drs. Eric Meininger, and Elizabeth Saewyc, are conducting focus groups to improve understanding of the effects of enacted stigma on sexual minority youth. Focus groups will last 90 minutes and will occur at a number of youth community sites. Food and bus fare to or from the focus groups will be provided. You will receive a $15 gift card as a token of our appreciation for your time.

For more information, call 651-578-5000 or email [email protected] with your first name, age, phone number and a convenient time for staff to call you back.

New Research

CDC Survey Indicates Rates of Sex Decline Among Teens, Young Adults

New data from the National Survey of Family Growth show that there was a four percent increase in the number of young people waiting to become sexually active. While an encouraging statistic, recent findings (PDF) from the Minnesota Student Survey showed that more Minnesota teens were sexually active, with fewer using condoms, than in previous surveys.

Adolescent Romance and Delinquency: “Cold and Brittle” Relationships?

This article from Criminology explores connections between delinquency and the character of adolescent romantic ties, drawing primarily on the first wave of the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study and focusing on 957 teens with dating experience.

Delinquency, Alcohol Use and Risky Sex in Adolescents from Low and Middle Income Backgrounds

This study from the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry was conducted using data collected from a sample of 808 youth followed from age 10 to age 24. Late childhood delinquent involvement was associated with young adult crime, alcohol use disorders and risky sex indirectly through adolescent delinquency, and had a persistent direct effect on crime. Early intervention may help prevent the development of crime, alcohol use disorders and risky sex behaviors, especially among disadvantaged youth.

Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Teens at an Urban Emergency Department: Relationship with Violent Behaviors and Substance Use

This article from the Journal of Adolescent Health describes rates and correlates of sexual risk behaviors among adolescents screened in an urban emergency department.

A Parent-Based Intervention to Reduce Sexual Risk Behavior in Early Adolescence: Building Alliances Between Physicians, Social Workers and Parents

This study from the Journal of Adolescent Health evaluated the efficacy of a parent-based intervention to prevent sexual risk behavior among Latino and African American young adults. Results indicate that pediatric clinics may be an effective place to reach parents and reduce sexual risk behaviors.

Human Papillomavirus Vaccine: An Updated Position Statement of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine

Read the recommendations (PDF) from SAHM regarding the vaccination as well as clinical prevention and screening efforts.

MOAPPP Events

March 14-15, 2011
It’s That Easy! Parent Educator Training

8:45 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Plato Conference Center
90 W. Plato Blvd, Saint Paul

If you work with parents/caregivers of children aged birth to 18, you are in a unique position to support them in their critical role as sexuality educators for their children. However, sexuality is not always easy to discuss. Come learn tools and techniques to engage parents/caregivers in developmentally appropriate approaches to raising sexually healthy children. Participants receive the It’s That Easy! resource manual, a comprehensive guide designed to help you work with parents in your community.

For more information and to register, see the flyer and registration form (PDF). Click here to register online. Questions? Contact Jocelyn at 651-644-1447 x 19, [email protected].

The MOAPPP Annual Conference is Minnesota’s most comprehensive training event covering current research, educational resources, policy initiatives and emerging issues related to adolescent sexual health, pregnancy prevention and support for adolescent parents. It promises to be two days filled with renowned speakers, challenging, informative, skill-building workshops and many opportunities for networking and conversation. MOAPPP is also excited to tell you that we will announce our smarter, SHORTER, teen-friendly identity at the start of the conference!

Early Registration deadline is April 15, 2011. For more information and to register, visit the MOAPPP conference page.

Join us on Thursday, May 12th at Solera for “Wise-Up” – a celebration of MOAPPP’s Twenty Years of Guiding Adults to Empower Teens. This special evening will include great food, sensational music, and fabulous live and silent auction opportunities. Be there to celebrate the retiring of MOAPPP’s name and to initiate our smarter, shorter, teen-friendly identity!

Other Events

March 14-30, 2011
Adopting Culturally Competent Best Practices
Minnesota Institute of Public Health

Crookston – March 14
Bemidji – March 15
Mountain Iron – March 16
St. Cloud – March 18
St. Paul – March 25
Albert Lea – March 28
Granite Falls – March 30

Disparities in chemical dependency (CD) treatment delivery and access are often stark and point out inequities across gender and cultural/ethnic communities. Minnesota Department of Human Services (MNDHS) wants to help in reducing these disparities, particularly as it relates in the provision of chemical health services to diverse populations. The ACCBP training session will help provide professionals working in the field of CD treatment tools to help combat some of these disparities. For more information and to register, visit www.miph.org.

March 25, 2011
Moving Upstream: Creating Champion Communities to Prevent Sexual Violence

St. Paul

The Sexual Violence Prevention Network invites you to attend this day-long session on how to organize in your community. This workshop will offer both an animated conversation about preventing violence before it happens AND strategies to help engage leaders in your community to step up and become change agents along with you.

For more information, contact Amy Kenzie at 651-201-5410, [email protected].

March 29-30, 2011
Building Brighter Futures
Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota’s Annual Conference

Crowne Plaza Hotel, St. Paul

This year’s conference will focus on preventing neglect, ending racial disparities and understanding brain development. Keynote speakers include Dr. L. Read Sulik, MN Department of Human Services and Dr. Alvin Poussaint, Harvard Medical School. Conference workshops focus on a variety of topics including promoting resilience in children, emotional intelligence and addiction. For more information and to register, visit www.pcamn.org.

April 4-8, 2011
7th Annual National Public Health Week Film Festival

5:00 p.m. Doors open
5:30 p.m. Showtime

Mayo Memorial Auditorium (M, W, Th, F)
425 Delaware St. SE, Minneapolis

Coffman Memorial Union Theater (T)
300 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis

You are invited to attend the 7th Annual School of Public Health Film Festival, hosted in celebration of National Public Health Week. All film goers will receive FREE admission, FREE food and FREE beverages. This year’s festival will focus on mental health, food, nutrition, social justice, health care, environment, climate change, HIV and sex education.

April 14, 2011
Assuring Access: Meeting the Sexual Health Needs of Homeless Youth

6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Temple Israel
2324 Emerson Avenue South, Minneapolis

All young people deserve access to quality sexual health information and services. Assuring access looks different, however, when trying to meet the needs of youth on the street. Come hear Bill Smith, Executive Director of the National Coalition of STD Directors share what’s going on in Washington to ensure all young people have access to the information and care they need. Mr. Smith will describe policies and practices that either support or hinder access and highlight implications unique to homeless youth. His presentation will be followed by a lively discussion with a panel of Minnesota experts.

To register, click here. For more information, contact Debbie Stillman at [email protected] or 952-922-7900. Cost is $10. Scholarships are available. Please contact NCJW for scholarship information.

This event is funded in part by a grant from the Ford Foundation and is sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women, Minneapolis in collaboration with a newly formed coalition of providers and advocates.