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In February, FutureNet launched the first-of-its-kind
teen pregnancy prevention campaign called TxT--Talking
Sex Together. The focus of the campaign is to encourage
teens to Talk about Sex Together (TxT) in their own language through
text messaging. We are asking YOU to help make this campaign a success
by signing up your local high schools and youth-serving programs
to participate. Those that sign up will receive an electronic campaign
tool kit to customize for use in promoting the campaign to local
Iowa teens. Attached you'll find a preview of the TxT campaign in
three documents: a letter outlining the campaign, talking points
for organizational outreach, and the participation form.
About the TxT Campaign
The TxT campaign encourages teens to communicate messages of abstinence,
teenage pregnancy avoidance, and safer sex through text messaging,
one of the primary tools that bolster teens’ social networks.
To facilitate conversations among teens, the campaign invites teens
to develop and send euphemisms that deliver important messages about
sex. For example, a teen might text her friend who is on a date
and remind her to ZIU or “zip it up” in the heat of
the moment. In doing so, the teen signals to her friend that she
has peer support and reminds her to make smart decisions.
Tactics:
· TxT Contest: Teens can create
and send their unique phrases on the TxT Web site as part of a contest
for participating schools and programs. The schools or youth programs
with the greatest number of unique euphemisms entries will receive
a prize from a local radio station.
· Public Service Announcement (PSA):
A PSA driving traffic to the Web site will air on radio stations
in four Iowa cities: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Sioux City,
and Waterloo.
· TxT Materials: Posters, quick
cards, screen savers for computer labs, and advertisements for student
newspapers will be distributed to help schools spread word about
the TxT campaign.
Launch of the Campaign
An electronic campaign tool kit will be available, which your organization
can customize with your logo. You can print copies of the tool kit
to distribute to students and youth organizations in your area.
The tool kit will include:
• Posters
• Informational cards
• Advertisement for the student newspaper
• Screen savers for computer labs
• Brochure for parents
• PSA for student radio stations
Together, all of these elements will help create a supportive environment
for teens to learn and talk about teen pregnancy prevention. Look
for even more updates from FutureNet as the campaign progresses.
To learn more about TxT or to sign
up your school or youth-serving organization, go
here.
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IIn 2005, FutureNet unveiled a plan to ensure
that all adolescent sexual health programs in Iowa adhere to medically-accurate,
science-based standards in design, implementation, and evaluation.
A multi-year initiative, Touchstones: Sexual Health Measures That
Matter has as its vision:
By 2012, all adolescent sexual health education in Iowa will be
designed, implemented, and evaluated according to accepted standards
of science-based practice.
The Touchstones project focuses on increasing the public will and
provider capacity for utilizing accepted science-based standards
in all adolescent sexual health education in Iowa. We intend to
effect change at three levels, with each level influencing and supporting
the others as the project moves towards its vision.
Three Levels of Change
. Social Norms/the Iowa grassroots
. Knowledge & Skill/Educators & Service Providers in Iowa
. Policy/ Structural System for Sexual Health Education in Iowa
To learn more about Touchstones, please attend one of the following
FutureNet regional meetings. Executive Director Rhonda Chittenden
will be presenting a one-hour update on the initiative at each meeting.
_______________________________________
 Our
Level 2 partners attended the MOAPPP annual conference. Eva
Brummel, Angie Howard, Holly Robinson, Lydia Arevalo, Kathy Dooley.
Our Science-Based Curricula Special Project
will bring resources and technical assistance to four Iowa communities
where service providers have committed to implementing a proven-effective
sexual health curriculum with adolescents.
The goals of the Science-Based Curricula Special
Project are:
• to increase the number of programs that utilize science-based
curricula for teen pregnancy and STI/HIV prevention in Iowa.
• to demonstrate the possibilities for science-based practices
in teen pregnancy and STI/HIV prevention in Iowa.
• to widen FutureNet’s circle of influence to new partners
who will reach traditionally underserved youth populations with
proven effective, science-based prevention practices.
Our Level 2 partners are Marshall County Coalition
for Youth in Marshalltown and Planned
Parenthood of Greater Iowa in Red Oak/Creston. Both Level
2 Partners received funding to send a four-member team to the MOAPPP
(Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention, and
Parenting) annual conference on May 3-4, 2007. Both partners also
received a proven-effective curriculum, curriculum training, and
supplemental teaching tools to implement in their youth-serving
programs. FutureNet will provide technical assistance, including
at least one site visit and one training tailored to their needs
for successful curriculum implementation.
Our Level 1 partners are the Adolescent Pregnancy
Prevention Council of Muscatine and Louisa Counties in Muscatine
and the Young Women's Resource Center
in Des Moines. Both Level 1 partners received a proven-effective
curriculum, curriculum training, and supplemental teaching tools
to implement in their school, youth-serving program, or faith community.
In addition, FutureNet will provide technical assistance to these
partners.
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