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Latino Initiative

National Campaign Latino Initiative


Last Updated: 11/20/2009

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City: WASHINGTON
State: Washington DC
Country: US

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Wednesday, August 12, 2009 
This post, by the National Campaign's Partnerships Assistant, Liz Mustin, was cross-posted on Pregnant Pause.

Sometimes it's hard to feel connected to the change you aim to make and the people who your work affects when you're working "inside the beltway" in Washington, DC. But at the beginning of the summer I joined several other Campaigners on a trip up to New Britain, CT, for a conference that we hosted with a local teen pregnancy prevention organization. The agenda of the conference was designed to draw the connection between what we do at a national level, what Connecticut in particular is doing, and the youth that is served by this specific teen pregnancy prevention program in New Britain - Pathways/Senderos.

While all the information presented was informative and interesting - we learned about how programs are evaluated; specifics about the Carrera program model; how the National Campaign was started and its dedication to poverty reduction; and about some other interesting programs in Connecticut - I think that everyone agreed that the best part of the conference was seeing the program staff, their successful kids and the kids' parents talk about what this type of program means for their lives and their prospects for the future. I made the video below to share a part of that experience, so that we can all better understand the kids that this work serves and the successes that they experience as a result.

Pathways/Senderos video


As you can see in the video, the conference in Connecticut served another important purpose: to unveil a new publication that we created with the Pathways/Senderos teens on teen pregnancy prevention. The pamphlet is designed for Latino teens, with stories written by Latino teens, to help foster an understanding of the experiences in their lives that shape their decisions on sex and their ability to make decisions about the future. It's designed to use with Latino teens to help start discussions, and includes some tips that can help them make safe, smart decisions about sex. You can download a copy from our website and check it out, or you can order it from our store to use with youth in your community.

To supplement the stories that we gathered at Pathways/Senderos, we're also asking for your stories. If you're a Latino teen, or if you work with Latino Teens, please share your thoughts in the comments here or in a message. We're trying to get the conversation started about how Latino teens think and talk about their sexual decisions, and we'd love to hear from you.