Check out this guest blog post from Best Education Degrees about where states rank in different educational areas, including teen pregnancy rates. See how Colorado compares in different areas - is it what you expected, or are some of the rankings surprising?

Education is different in every state. From local factors to state requirements, every state has different results when it comes to educating our kids. Best Education Degrees has created an infographic entitled, “Education in the USA” detailing just how efficient our education systems are. Where does your state rank? Take a look!

Check out our guest blog post from our friends at COLOR about their LIPS program....

Do you know a young woman passionate about her community between 16 and 21 years old? Are you interested in learning how to be an effective advocate for the issues that matter to you and your community? Or, maybe you would be interested in being a mentor for young girls learning how to be an effective advocate for the issues that matter to them and their community?

LIPS (Latinas Increasing Political Strength) is a leadership institute open to young women between 16-21 years old in the Denver metro area. The institute has been designed for young woman to explore their voice and build power to transform their future. LIPS offers participants tools that are culturally relevant and community-centered, as well as an opportunity to engage with and learn from local advocates, activists and leaders. Through LIPS and the mentorship program, COLOR (Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights) strives to create stronger and more intentional leadership development pipelines through the concepts of mentorship, education, organizing and advocacy.

Many of our friends and colleagues have worked with Shannon over the 7 years that she has been with Colorado Youth Matter. She has recently made a transition to working part-time as our Senior Consultant, and we thought we’d give her the opportunity to share with you what that means for her, personally and professionally.

First off tell me about how you got involved in the sexual health field and what brought you to Colorado Youth Matter…

I first started working in sexual health in the Peace Corps in 2001. I was a health volunteer working with teens and they weren’t too interested in malaria and dengue prevention. Not surprisingly, I found teens were much more interested in learning about and discussing sexual health, relationships, etc. I fell in love with this field then, and haven’t stopped loving it. I came to Colorado Youth Matter from Indiana, where I had been working on a grant that Colorado Youth Matter (at that time, COAPPP) had also received from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With this grant in common, I was able to meet and work with CYM’s former ED, Lori Casillas. My partner and I wanted to move back to Colorado, so I pursued the opportunity to work with CYM. At that time Colorado Youth Matter was a fledgling organization. It has been an incredible experience to be part of an organization that has grown and strengthened – and I have grown with it. It’s been the most amazing professional development I could have ever asked for. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to work and grow with Colorado Youth Matter and all of our colleagues and partners.

It has been a busy year for us at Colorado Youth Matter, and looking back we are in awe of all the fantastic things we were able to accomplish in partnership with our friends and community. Join us for a quick trip down memory lane for some highlights of our year!

January
Our amazing executive director, Lisa Olcese, began her position and helped us get 2013 off to a great start!

February
Our staff and CREATE council members provided compelling testimony in support of the 2013 sex ed law – House Bill 1081.

Youth Action Day 2014 will be held on March 17, 2014! Mark your calendars and get ready for the advocacy event of a lifetime! Our youth council, Colorado Youth CREATE will be developing an exciting, engaging and fun-filled day for you all. Join us and our partners in sharing positive information about the power of youth engagement, advocacy tools in support of comprehensive sex education and youth sexual health. We can’t wait to see you there!

The newest national teen birth rate data show that rates are still dropping! Rates are still much lower than the historic high in 1991, though they are slowing down from the drastic drops we’ve seen over the last few years. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reports that “The decline has been fueled by three factors: more teens are waiting to have sex; they also report fewer sexual partners and better use of contraception.” We are so excited to hear these results, and things are looking great in Colorado as well!

You may have stood in the lines on Black Friday.

You may have participated in Cyber Monday.

But have you heard about Giving Tuesday?

Today is the second annual #GivingTuesday, a day to inspire philanthropy during the holiday season. Colorado Youth Matter is proud to be part of this collaborative effort among families, businesses, non-profits, students, retailers and so many more community members to celebrate a day dedicated to giving back!

It is Thanksgiving week, which means lots of great things are on our minds. Turkey…stuffing….mashed potatoes….pumpkin pie…YUM! And don’t forget spending time with family, friends and loved ones. We recognize that the roots of this holiday are negative and disrespectful to say the least for some Native American people, and we also see the present-day celebrations as an opportunity to remind ourselves of all the wonderful things we have to be thankful for!

We are thankful for our wonderful Colorado Youth Matter staff, board and council members – our work family! How could you not love all of those lovely smiling faces?!?!

Enjoy this guest blog post from Colorado Youth CREATE member Scarlett Jimenez!

As I transitioned from high school to college, I thought that my student outreach efforts on behalf of Colorado Youth CREATE would get easier. With a bigger campus, more people, and more freedom, I reasoned that I would easily be able to reach more people to join our youth activist network and support our cause of increasing the availability of comprehensive sex education on local and state levels. However, I soon realized that the climate of students at my private university was very conservative and not very supportive of sexual health education. This was something that I found to be completely ironic because people are definitely “doing it,” and people are definitely gossiping about it. But no one wants to discuss safe sex, healthy relationships, or sexual assault.

Colorado Youth Matter was thrilled to present a groundbreaking new research brief at our conference, Raising Expectations, Raising Hope: Academic Achievement and Sexual Health. Many of our colleagues and friends in the public health field are well-aware of the fact that students who are healthy also tend to be more successful in school. Teen pregnancy is no exception to this, and the connection between being pregnant and/or parenting and dropping out of school is well-documented. Nationally, 30% of young women who have dropped out high school list the primary reason as pregnancy and/or parenthood. In Colorado, approximately 53% of young women who gave birth in 2011 did not finish high school or achieve a GED.

The staff and board at Colorado Youth Matter would like to thank all of you who joined us at Raising the Bar in October. With over 140 attendees from across Colorado and a wonderful repertoire of speakers and presenters, we are proud to say that this year's conference was an incredible success. The season for giving thanks is quickly approaching and we extend our gratitude to each of you as we continue to collaboratively advance youth sexual health in Colorado.

Check out our photo highlights from the conference below.

Marlene is getting the registration table ready – we can’t wait for everyone to arrive to the American Mountaineering Center in Golden!

First off tell me about how you got involved in the sexual health field and what brought you to Colorado Youth Matter…

I first got involved with sexual health in college when I realized how little sex ed my classmates had been given. I was shocked by their ignorance of how their own bodies worked. I joined my school’s women’s group and was trained as a sexual health educator, providing trainings such as “Sex in the Dark” with college students.

I joined the Colorado Youth Matter staff when The Healthy Colorado Youth Alliance became a part of CYM. I had been working with The Alliance since St. Patrick’s Day, 2010.

What 3-5 words would you use to describe your personality?

Jovial, Inquisitive, Caring

This week we're featuring a guest blog post from our friends at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains about an awesome resource they're providing for pregnant and parenting teens... enjoy and share!

Pregnant and parenting teens often miss out on vital prenatal and childbirth education due to a lack of access to inclusive and affordable services, so Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM) has developed low-cost, high-quality childbirth education classes that are designed to empower all people to play an active role in their birthing experience. PPRM believes that teen parents deserve respect, educational equality, and access to prenatal care and parenting resources whether they choose to parent or make an adoption plan. We feel that childbirth education during pregnancy results in healthier labor and delivery and provides pregnant and parenting teens with the knowledge they need to be involved and empowered.

In honor of October’s Let’s Talk Month, which promotes family-child communication about sexual health, Colorado Youth Matter released its first report on Colorado families’ support for youth sexual health. Colorado Youth Matter’s report – Colorado Family Advocate Survey Summary 2013 – reveals the expectations, motivators, barriers and needs of adults to provide sexual health information to the youth in their lives. The results will inform families, community partners, decision-makers, funders and schools in guiding programs, funding and policies to support adult and family engagement in youth sexual health.

Colorado Youth Matter’s Working to Institutionalize Sex Education (WISE) Initiative provides support to Colorado schools who want to implement or improve the comprehensive sexual health education being taught in classrooms and sustain and institutionalize high quality programs and policies that support the sexual health of all students. For the last two years, the Colorado WISE Initiative has worked with local school districts to choose effective curricula, effectively train teachers to deliver sex education in the classroom, and to establish policies and procedures that support and sustain quality classroom instruction.

CYM is excited to announce that we will be expanding our WISE Initiative to support even more school districts in meeting their sexual health education goals. After experiencing successes with our current partner districts, Colorado Youth Matter has developed a tiered support system to accommodate the needs and goals of even more Colorado school districts. WISE Initiative partners can now receive support as Assembly Level, Classroom Level or Tutor Level partners.