User:MegMarie13/Advocates for Youth

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Advocates for Youth is a nonprofit organization and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States, dedicated to sexuality education, the prevention of HIV and of sexually transmitted disease, teenage pregnancy prevention, youth access to condoms and contraception (including emergency contraception), equality for LGBT youth, and youth participation. In addition, Advocates for Youth sponsors media campaigns and other forms of outreach which attempt to change societal norms to be more understanding of, accepting, of, and responsible about youth sexuality.

Advocates for Youth has both domestic and international programs and creates and funds programs as well as lobbying for policies, including the Responsible Education About Life Act. Among its work is the preparation of educational materials, such as a publicity kit encouraging parents to talk to their children about HIV prevention, under contract from government bodies such as the Center for Disease Control.

Mission and Vision
Founded in 1980, Advocate for Youth has a long history of providing programs and services for people across all ages and backgrounds. The organization was originally known as Center for Population Option and changed its name to Advocates for Youth in the years following its start up. Advocates focuses on educating youth in many aspects of life.

Advocates for Youth's mission reads: "Advocates for Youth champions efforts to help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates believes it can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health."

The organization also has a vision that is described in terms of its core values, the "3Rs". Those three Rs are rights (to accurate and complete sexual health information, confidential reproductive and sexual health services, and a secure stake in the future), respect (for youth by involving them in all aspects of programs that affect them), and responsibility (to provide youth with tools to safeguard sexual health, and for youth to protect themselves from pregnancy and STIs).

Current sexuality education programs vary widely in the accuracy of content, emphasis, and effectiveness. Studies have shown that programs vary in effectiveness for all ages, races and ethnicities, socioeconomic groups, and geographic areas. Current Sexual education programs in the United States of America are typically abstinence only programs. This has many effects on students including it being damaging to students as lack of education increases the likelihood of premature and unsafe sexual activity. Abstinence only programs have been widely funded since the 1980s at the start of the AIDS epidemic.

The values of Advocates for Youth come from the observations of participants on an annual study tour in France, Germany, and the Netherlands that Advocates for Youth conducts to investigate reasons for better sexual health outcomes in those countries. In the United States, only 28 states are obligated to teach both sex education and HIV education in public schools.

Policies
James Wagoner, the president of Advocates for Youth, has described the organization's policies as an outgrowth of their support for "research-based public health policy" - rather than politically motivated. The organization vocally opposed the sex education policies of George W. Bush's presidential administration, also criticizing the restoration of funds to abstinence-only education during the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Policy priorities at the state, national, and foreign policy levels all focus around the general areas of reproductive rights and access, sex education, STI prevention, and LGBT youth rights.

Programs and Past Partnerships
Advocates for Youth works heavily in collaboration with national, state, and local groups to run a number of initiatives. These focus on goals including contraceptive access for youth, teen pregnancy prevention, STI prevention, comprehensive sex education, sex education teacher training, and ending homophobia and transphobia against youth. All the programs and initiatives heavily involve youth as stakeholders. The Youth Activist Network, one of the biggest programs, focuses on peer education and activism and runs the Amplify website where young people can contribute articles on relevant topics.

In 2002 Advocates for Youth partnered with MTV to launch a project titled “Fight for Your Rights: Protect Yourself Campaign.” This partnership encouraged the empowerment and education of young people on the topic of sexual health focusing on HIV/AIDS, STDs, and unplanned pregnancy. The Protect Yourself Campaign premiered as an installment of MTVs Fight For Your Rights initiative.

The Media Project was founded by Advocates for Youth in conjunction with the Henry J. Kaiser foundation. This Project offers writers and producers of television shows accurate and in-depth information regarding sexuality to eliminate any errors shows might make.

In 2009, Advocates for Youth partnered with the condom company Trojan to encourage condom use on college campuses. Together they created the Great American Condom Campaign.

LGBTQ+ Advocacy
A main part of Advocates for Youth is pushing for inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals. A way they make this happen is through sex education in schools. As of right now, there is virtually almost no LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education curriculum, with some states banning all talk of this in relation to sex education. Advocates of Youth combats sex education learning by supporting students fighting for their sex education access across the United States. They also work on training sex educators to not only be inclusive when designing their curriculum, but also affirming to the different identities and experiences their students may have. Advocates for Youth is also a part of the Sex Education Coalition, which helps to improve sex education within the United States.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Education
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and classes went online, educators found it hard for students to be engaged with classes, which includes sex education. Many schools have either shorted their sex education program or cut it entirely. Advocates for Youth has recognized the struggles of learning online, especially with sex education where trust and respect is needed between the students and the educator. They tried to help combat this by working with educators of sex education in an attempt to create a more positive and comforting environment for students learning online.