EVENTS OF NOTE

The Lalor Foundation’s Anna Lalor Burdick Program hosted representatives of fifteen grantee organizations from as far away as Hawaii and close as Boston for a November conference.  A group of Boston teens from the Hyde Square Task Force got the event under way by presenting their new video, “Sex in School, Does Ignorance Keep Us Safe?” promoting comprehensive sex education in the Boston public schools.

The next day, the group heard a thought-provoking plenary talk by Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Ms Brown outlined the findings of the National Campaign’s study, “The Fog Zone.” Among the surprising findings are the fact that the highest rate of teen unplanned pregnancy is not among young teens but, rather, 18- and 19-year-olds. In addition, many sexually active young people practice birth control inconsistently even though they state that contraception is important. These and other study findings helped spark lively discussions in the four breakout sessions that rounded out the day.

Facilitators for breakout sessions were drawn from among Anna Lalor Burdick Program grantees and GMA Foundations staff Grantees left energized and expressing a desire to continue sharing best practices and experiences in their pregnancy prevention programming.