LIVECommunity-Based Comprehensive Sex Education
PPLA’s community-based sex education programs empower youth, women, and men across Los Angeles to make informed choices about their bodies, their relationships, their health, and their futures.
Please describe your project proposal.
Our innovative, age-appropriate, and culturally competent sexuality and health education programs educate and empower youth, families, and communities throughout Los Angeles to make healthy choices. As the largest community provider of classroom-based sex education and reproductive health services in Los Angeles, our programs forge the critical link between underserved populations and our health centers, increasing awareness of the need for medical care and knowledge of how to access services.
Which of the LIVE metrics will your proposal impact?
Healthcare access
Resilient communities
Residents receiving coordinated healthcare services
Prevalence of adverse childhood experiences
In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
Central LA
East LA
San Gabriel Valley
San Fernando Valley
South LA
Westside
South Bay
Gateway Cities
Antelope Valley
County of Los Angeles
City of Los Angeles
LAUSD
Describe in greater detail how your proposal will make LA the best place to LIVE?
PPLA sets the standard in sexual and reproductive health education. We deliver innovative, age-appropriate, and culturally competent sex education that empowers community members to make healthy choices. We partner with LAUSD to provide sexuality education to more students than any other organization in Los Angeles. Our curricula empower individuals to assert their rights within relationships, decrease risky behavior, and delay pregnancy.
Our Sexuality Education Initiative takes learning beyond the classroom by wrapping around schools and communities. We know that learning happens outside the classroom, whether it is at home, after school, or in the community. That’s why our programs reach parents, communities, and health centers, as well as classrooms. Our Peer Advocates program trains youth to become active health ambassadors, disseminating health information and conducting outreach in their schools and communities to educate peers about the importance of preventive health care and positive behaviors. PPLA operates two school-based wellness centers to provide healthcare to students, and conducts parent education sessions so that the information students learn in the classroom is reinforced at home and in the community.
This year was a milestone for sex education legislation. California adopted AB 329, a new law requiring all public schools to provide medically-accurate, comprehensive sex education. As schools work towards full compliance with the law, we will use our decade of experience providing training to youth-serving professionals to help shepherd in a new era of sex education. Using a “train the trainer” model allows PPLA to significantly extend our reach. By providing safe and inclusive school environments, medically accurate information, and ongoing support, we are empowering teens to make healthy decisions about their bodies and their futures.
We know that the need for sex education is not limited to youth. Myths and misconceptions about sex and healthy relationships are just as prevalent in adult as it is in youth populations, which is why our Promotoras Comunitarias have provided education to the adult Latino population for over 20 years. Latina women are trained to provide reproductive health information in their communities. They create an effective link between communities and the health care system and provide culturally appropriate health education and information about health insurance options.
The Promotoras also implemented the first-ever LGBT Family Acceptance Curriculum tailored to the Latino community to address stigma, shame, discrimination, and familial abuse. Evaluations show that the program is making a great impact on increasing knowledge and behaviors that support the LGBT community. We are proud to help advance these conversations in our communities, PPLA works to empower everyone in Los Angeles County to advocate for their own health, receive the medical services they need, and make positive decisions.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
PPLA strives to increase knowledge related to sexual and reproductive health and wellness, family planning, the key elements of healthy family communication, and the importance of seeking health services. Longer term, our goal is to make an impact on reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancy, STIs, and reproductive system cancers. PPLA uses a data management system, the Sex Education Knowledge System (SEKS), to track information on all of our educational and outreach programs, including the number of presentations, participants, educational contact hours, presenters, and presentation sites.
How can the LA2050 community and other stakeholders help your proposal succeed?
Money
Volunteers
Publicity/awareness