Colorado Youth Matter works to effectively advocate for policies that support adolescent reproductive health and parenting teens through public education, grassroots campaigns, and working with local coalitions and government officials.   

We believe policy makers must see, hear, and understand the experiences of youth in their communities when developing policies that will impact the health and lives of youth.  We work to highlight the experiences of youth to connect the issues of teen pregnancy prevention and teen parenting to broader social factors that impact the lives of teens and young families.

Sexual & Reproductive Health of Youth

Preventing teen pregnancy and STIs means providing youth with the information and resources they need to make healthy decisions.  This can be done by:

1. Promoting science-based sexuality education that is comprehensive, medically accurate and age-appropriate 
2.  Providing youth with access to contraception and youth-friendly reproductive health services
3. Eliminating barriers that limit access to these services and programs by improving patient confidentiality and community outreach.

Support for Pregnant & Parenting Youth

Pregnant and parenting youth, like all youth, have the right to reach their educational and career goals.  This can be done by:

1. Ensuring equitable educational opportunities for pregnant and parenting youth 
2. Providing access to resources and services, such as quality child care, housing, and health care for young families

Access to Opportunity for All Youth

All youth have the right to dream and be supported in carrying out those dreams.  Youth who have aspirations for their future, and resources and support to work towards those aspirations, delay parenting and make more informed life decisions.  Policy makers, leaders, funders and communities can support this by:

1. Providing educational opportunities for all Colorado students
2. Barrier-free access to quality health care that recognizes adolescents as consumers of their own care
3. Ensuring safe and thriving communities that are free of racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty and other forms of marginalization

Check out the following links for more information on what you can do to advocate for teen pregnancy prevention and support for young families:

• Be an Advocate: Tips on Advocating to Legislators & other decision-makers
  

• Action Center: Find out what is currently going on with State & National Legislation, Ballot Initiatives and more
  

• Take Action: See how you can do today!

• Sign up for Action Alerts and our Newsletter