Young Leaders Summit

This group of young leaders embodied incredible diversity in terms of race, gender, place of residence, and age, which fed the lively discussions and important work they accomplished over the course of the two days they spent together. It was an opportunity for advocacy training and skills building, and to dialogue about strengthening the reproductive rights community from its very foundations.

In workshops, teens learned the basic skills of social justice work, from grassroots organizing to speaking effectively to the media on issues of reproductive health and rights. The action-planning workshop taught them how to take lofty goals — such as holding a Lobby Day — and break them down into practical, achievable, and measurable steps to ensure success. The mantra in this session was, “Some is not a number; soon is not a time.” The coalition-building workshop inspired them to reach out to other established groups in their communities, such as religious organizations or parent-teacher associations, to build powerful and effective alliances on reproductive rights issues. A workshop on cultural sensitivity, which focused on race and class, was a consciousness-raising opportunity for teens to talk about the barriers within their own communities, and brainstorm about how to break down those barriers. In keeping with the spirit of this workshop, participants presented their findings in both English and Spanish. And in the technology workshop, they tapped into their area of expertise — communicating through text messages and IM, MySpace.com, and Facebook.com — and discussed innovative ways to use these tools to spread the key facts about reproductive health and rights.

Out of each workshop came two or three recommendations for how Planned Parenthood could increase teen access and engagement. These young people further outlined their bold new agenda by writing five belief statements:

• All schools should have medically accurate, comprehensive sex education and provide contraceptive options if needed, without question and free of stigma.
• Everyone should be given an equal opportunity for quality education regardless of race, social-economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and culture: Intolerance should not be accepted.
• Youth are a pivotal component in the reproductive justice movement, and all Planned Parenthood affiliates should fully fund multifaceted youth programs that include but are not limited to: advocacy/public affairs; clinic presence; teen theater; and peer education.
• We need to have sex education for parents as well as for teens, so they can be more understanding of who we are.
• We should question authority, and the government should not intrude into private decisions about reproductive and sexual health.

Teams from the participating Planned Parenthood affiliates drew up action plans for the coming year. The young leaders from Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, for example, plan to push all pharmacies in their state to stock emergency contraception (EC), a goal they plan to achieve through pharmacy surveys and secret-shopper programs. Young leaders at Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona want comprehensive sex education curricula in all Arizona schools, a goal they plan to achieve by adding 25 diverse, trained, and active members to their local youth council. And Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s young leaders want the HPV vaccine to be a requirement for attending school, and have asked for the help of their affiliate’s public affairs and education staff to achieve this goal.

Finally, with an eye toward the 2008 Young Leaders Summit and building a more robust and active community of young leaders across the country, Planned Parenthood is bringing together up to 20 of these teens to form a Young Leaders Council that will inform all of our youth initiatives in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Helping teens advocate for their health and wellbeing has been and remains a Planned Parenthood priority, because this next generation is critical for all our future work. With our new youth initiatives, which are a key part of the Planned Parenthood strategic plan, teens are empowering themselves to grow beyond the role of peer educators, into the advocates, activists, and leaders who will take this movement into the future.