By Deb Levine, MA, & Jamia Wilson, MA | February 20, 2014

We are the president and executive director of YTH (Youth+Tech+Health), an organization committed to advancing the health of youth and young adults through technology, and we’ve got a pitch for you: if you work with young people, you can improve effectiveness by sharing leadership with them.

We mean sharing leadership in a substantive way—giving over the reins for a good part of the journey. Sound impractical, or impossible, or scary? It’s not. You can take that leap.

At YTH, we’ve recently implemented a model of intergenerational leadership ourselves. We fully expect this new leadership structure to expand our opportunities, build our potential, and shape the direction of our organization into the future.

By Elizabeth Schroeder, EdD, MSW | January 22, 2014

I’m the executive director for Answer, a national organization dedicated to providing and promoting unfettered access to sexuality education for young people and the adults who teach them.

There is so much misunderstanding today about what sexuality education is. Most people tend to think it only has to do with preventing pregnancy and infections. But when we refer to “sexuality education,” we’re talking far more holistically. This enables us to promote overall sexual health and education, while also ensuring that young people know how to prevent an unintended pregnancy and STDs.

We believe strongly that sexuality education should start early, meaning it should be basic at younger ages and build in complexity as a young person grows. It’s an egregious mistake when lessons on sexuality—whether at home or in school—don’t begin until the teen years.

By Pamela Anderson, PhD | January 15, 2014

Those of us at ETR who work in the area of sexual and reproductive health agree that healthy sexual development is an issue of human rights, and that coercion-free, violence-free relationships are essential to healthy sexuality. For over 30 years, we’ve pursued research that helps us better understand what promotes sexual health, as well as what interferes with it.

In recent years, our research has led us to bring more emphasis to the context in which sexual risk behaviors may occur among youth, particularly with respect to the importance of romantic relationships.

By Amy Peterson, MSc | January 9, 2014

Late last year, several ETR colleagues and I presented at the Healthy Teen Network’s annual conference in Savannah, Georgia. The theme was “Embracing Innovation: Combining Science with Creativity to Improve Adolescent Health.” About 30 participants joined ETR staffer Bruce Weiss and me as we discussed strategies for addressing unintended pregnancy and STIs among young people through the dual use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) and condoms.

By Lisa Unti, MPH | November 20, 2013

Have you ever wondered if the work you do makes a difference? Beyond the paperwork and meetings, the mandates and requirements… What does making a difference look like?

Many of us have multiple roles as parents, mentors and health and education professionals. My own perspective as a mother and researcher working in the field of sexual and reproductive health and evaluation for over 20 years informs and shapes my work. The intersection of these multiple roles gives all of us extraordinary opportunities to make a difference. Here’s one that came to me recently.

By Maura Minsky | October 23, 2013

I'm the Co-founder and Executive Director of Scenarios USA, an educational nonprofit based in Brooklyn, New York. We use writing, the arts and film production to build confidence, leadership and advocacy skills among youth regarding sexual and reproductive health.

We believe that education is more powerful when studnts can actually see themselves in the content they're learning. Social context is the door we ask them to walk through, inviting them to look at race, class, gender, sexual orientation, access and ability, and examine how these things relate to their lives and their communities. These factors all play a role in decision making and the ways people use information.