In addition to providing comprehensive sexuality education programming and health services in select Denver Public Schools, a member of The Healthy Colorado Youth Alliance, the Denver Teen Pregnancy Prevention Partnership (DTPPP) is excited to announce the launch of ICYC: In Case You’re Curious (ICYC) – a teen sexual health text line. Through ICYC, Denver youth are able to anonymously text in their sexual health questions and receive a free response within 24 hours. The texting program is an additional resource for all DTPPP partners, participating youth, and parents, serving as another branch of existing reproductive health services and resources. It is a unique resource for teens because it is anonymous and available year-round.

The Healthy Colorado Youth Alliance has taken positions against several dangerous and deceptive measures that will be on the ballot November 2nd.

A recent article by Brent Ewig, Director of Public Policy & Government Affairs for the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), outlined the important impact that national healthcare reform will have on infant mortality.

Although recent federal funding for comprehensive health programs is a step in the right direction, National Alliance for Hispanic Families asks why Latinos are underrepresented in evaluating the effectiveness of these programs.

Of the 29 programs said to have undergone “rigorous evaluation” and deemed the best at reducing unintended teenage pregnancy, only 15 even included Hispanic youth. Only 18 percent of all participants were Hispanic.

To read the full article, click here.

The Healthy Colorado Youth Alliance is pleased to announce the release of a new report, Raising Expectations in the Rockies: Colorado’s Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Industry and the Imperative for Real Sex Education, a collaborative project with SIECUS. The report exposes curricula that use fear- and shame-based tactics to forward political and moral ideology in public schools. The report also addresses the gains made and the challenges local schools districts still face to implement age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality instruction.

Read Raising Expectations in the Rockies Executive Summary | Full Report

The Colorado election is in November and several ballet measures are threatening Coloradan's personal freedom. Young people are speaking out for justice.

As reported in The Denver Post on Sunday August 22, Bruce Randolph School has begun distributing contraception including condoms, birth-control pills and emergency contraception to students whose parents have signed them up for services at the school-based health centers.

From the Family Violence Prevention Fund
Jul 1, 2010

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women living in urban areas are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to report: non-voluntary first sexual intercourse, unintended and teen pregnancies, unprotected first sex, and first sex with older partners. Those are among the findings from a new study from the Urban Indian Health Institute.

Why Do We Need a Resolution for Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health?

Many Colorado teens are having sex:

• The 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey found that more than one in four 9th graders in Colorado have had sex. By 12th grade nearly 60% reported having had sex.

School board unanimously votes in favor of teaching sexual education

By Peter Marcus, DDN Staff Writer

The Denver Public Schools board yesterday unanimously backed a resolution establishing an adolescent sexual and reproductive health education policy for the school system.

Supporters say it is time for the district to establish policy allowing for “age-appropriate” human sexuality education.

Supporters believe sex education delays teens from becoming sexually active; reduces the frequency of sexual activity; reduces the number of sexual partners a teen has; and increases condom and contraceptive use. Read the full article by clicking here.

Under the Obama administration, the U.S. is shifting gears on teen pregnancy prevention. Everyone is still on-message that abstinence should be the core message of any federally funded program, but comprehensive sex education is about to get a boost from the federal government.

On June 17th School Board Members at Denver Public Schools unanimously voted in support of the resolution on comprehensive sexuality education. Before casting their votes, many of the Board Members spoke in favor of the resolution and their eagerness to support it. President of the Board, Nate Easley, commented on the sexuality education that his children have received and said in regards to the resolution, "I wholeheartedly support this." Even Superintendent Tom Boasberg expressed his thanks to Vice President Arturo Jimenez for bringing the resolution to the Board and to the community and organizations coming together to support it.

School clinics armed for reproductive health
By Rebecca Jones on June 1, 2010, INDenverTimes.com

Across the state, care providers at the 35 health care centers based at middle schools and high schools in Colorado encounter the same issues: Sexually active or potentially active teens with scant knowledge of contraceptive or safe sex practices; an epidemic of sexually-transmitted infections – especially chlamydia – among teens; care providers who may be excellent at treating asthma or giving sports physicals but unsure of best practices when it comes to reproductive health care; and skittish communities that would just as soon this didn’t become a topic for public conversation.

On April 6th Dr. María Guajardo and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper unveiled the new “Denver’s Youth Agenda” a new citywide youth agenda. The 12-page report culminates the efforts of the Denver Youth Agenda Steering Committee, which convened in late 2008 to develop a broadened vision for Denver youth. Among the eight main priorities outlined was the need for youth to have increased access to comprehensive health education, that follow the standards of Sex Education outlined in the passage of Colorado House Bill 07-1292. Read the full report by clicking here.

On February 1, 2010, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2011 budget request. On the domestic side, advocates saw increases for Presidential priorities of teen pregnancy prevention and HIV/AIDS, while on the international front, family planning, and reproductive health programs and maternal and child health programs received the largest increases as the budget outlined the Global Health Initiative announced last year.