State Lawmakers And Youth Advocates To Propose Teen Health Agenda To Save Lives Of New York Youth

Wednesday, October 10, 2007
4:00 p.m.
LIU Downtown Brooklyn Campus*
Campus Courtyard
(between the Cyber Cafe and the Library Learning Center underpass)
Enter at DeKalb Avenue and Hudson Avenue
* LIU Downtown Brooklyn Campus is accessible by the 4/5 or 2/3 trains to Nevins Street, the B, M, Q or R
to DeKalb Avenue, or the A, C or G trains to Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station.

In the wake of the NYS Health Department’s rejection of $3.5 million in federal money for abstinence-only programs, New York State and City lawmakers, youth organization representatives, education leaders, health care professionals, clergy, students and parents will announce a comprehensive, three-pronged Teen Health Agenda aimed at safeguarding New York’s young people from disease and unintended pregnancy.

Among other things, the plan will include recommendations for implementing an age-appropriate, medically-accurate sex education curriculum in grades 1 through 12 in all State public and charter schools.

The more than 50 legislators and youth advocates will also launch a petition drive intended to enlist the support for the Teen Health Agenda from New Yorkers statewide. The petition calls on the Governor and commissioners of various state and city agencies to support and adopt the Teen Health Agenda. The petition will be circulated by lawmakers, youth organizations, students, parents and others.

State Senators sponsoring the petition drive include State Senators Velmanette Montgomery (D-Brooklyn); Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan); Shirley Huntley (D-Queens); Diane Savino (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn); Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Westchester); Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D-Bronx/Westchester).

Some of the presenters scheduled to discuss the proposed Teen Health Agenda and reasons for its implementation are: State Senator Velmanette Montgomery (D-Brooklyn), State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan); NYC Council Member Letisha James (D-Brooklyn); NYC Council Member Darlene Mealy (D-Brooklyn); Catherine Abate, President and Chief Executive Officer, Community Healthcare Network; Jennifer Weidenbaum, Associate Executive Director, Girls Incorporated of New York City; Gale Stevens Haynes, Provost, Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus; Galen Sherwin, Director, Reproductive Rights Project, New York Civil Liberties Union; Martha Kamber, Executive Director, YWCA of Brooklyn, Norma Villanueva, Chief of Pediatric and Adolescent Health of the Lutheran Family Health Centers (operates 13 school-based health centers in Brooklyn); Director, North Shore/Long Island Jewish School-Based Adolescent Health Centers (Far Rockaway); Rachel Figueroa, LMSW and Anthony Schmertz, LMSW, William F. Ryan Community Health Center (operates 6 school-based health centers in NYC); Ulysses Kilgore, Director, Bedford Stuyvesant Family Health Center; Director, Center for Anti-violence Education; Chaplain Anita Burson, Columbia Presbyterian Church; Joseph DiNorcia, President and CEO,Sexuality Information Council of the United States, and a Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies representative.