The Abstinence Education E-Update is a free information service of the Division of Abstinence Education of the HHS/ACF Family and Youth Services Bureau, provided by the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth. Contact NCFY at (301) 608-8098 or info@ncfy.com. If you're having trouble viewing this e-mail, please click here to view a version of it on the Web.
| May 24, 2006
Dear Abstinence Colleagues: It is my pleasure to introduce you to the inaugural edition of the Abstinence Education E-Update. The Abstinence Education E-Update will be an e-mail service of the Family and Youth Service Bureau's Division of Abstinence Education. FYSB will distribute the E-Update to all CBAE and Title V Abstinence grantees. E-Updates will include a variety of information designed to keep you updated on current events, news, research, funding opportunities, and other miscellaneous items related to abstinence-until-marriage education. E-Updates will be published periodically at first, but our goal is to send out updates on a biweekly basis. I trust that this news service will be a useful resource as you seek to expand your agency's capacity, build your expertise delivering abstinence-until-marriage education services, and learn more about the Administration's commitment to the abstinence-until-marriage message. E-Updates are available to anyone who is interested, so please feel free to spread the word. And please be sure to share with us your best ideas about how we can improve this service. We are continually searching for ways in which we can effectively support your most vital service to America's youth. Cordially, Jeffrey S. Trimbath Massachusetts Title V Funding New Mexico Title V Funding Abstinence Clubs Gaining Members Abstinence Promoted Through Art Another Reason for Abstinence Healthy Marriage – Administration for Children and Families National Healthy Marriage Resource Center Program Announcement CSBG T&TA Promoting Healthy Marriages Program Announcement Responsible Fatherhood – Administration for Children and Families Community Services - Administration for Children and Families Compassion Capital Fund Demonstration Program Compassion Capital Fund Communities Empowering Youth Program The Attack on Abstinence Education: Fact or Fallacy? (Medical Institute, May 5, 2006) – This report examines two recent articles published in the Journal of Adolescent Health which claim that abstinence-only education is problematic. The Family in America: New Research (The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society, February/March 2006) Behaviors May Indicate Risk of Adolescent Depression (National Institutes of Health, May 15, 2006) – The National Institutes of Health found that adolescents, particularly girls, who engage in risky behaviors are more likely to display symptoms of depression. Technical Assistance Web Cast on Program Evaluation Technical Assistance Conference Call on Communications Regional Training and Technical Assistance Workshop Technical Assistance Web Cast on A-H Compliance Technical Assistance Conference Call on Sound Business Practices Technical Assistance Web Cast on Integration of Scientific Information Technical Assistance Conference Call on Evaluation Technical Assistance Web Cast on Communications Technical Assistance Conference Call on Integration of Scientific Information Regional Training and Technical Assistance Workshop National Community-Based Abstinence Education Grantee Conference
Quote for the Day "My feeling is that it is impossible to have a double message toward young people... You can't say at the same time, 'Be abstinent, it's the only fair, good way, to escape from having HIV... and at the same time say, 'Look, if you ever happen to have sex, then please do that and that and that.' You probably have to choose the message." (emphasis added) (Dr. Pierre-Andre Michaud, Chief of the Multidisciplinary Unit for Adolescent Health at the University of Lausanne Hospital in Switzerland, quoted in the Washington Post, “Is Teen Sex Bad?,” May 16, 2006, page HE 01.) |
The Abstinence Education E-Update comprises links to Web sites with information on current events, research, funding opportunities, and other items related to abstinence-until-marriage education. Inclusion of this information does not imply endorsement by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY). Moreover, the points of view or opinions expressed on these Web sites do not necessarily represent the official position, policies, or views of FYSB, HHS, or NCFY.
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ROBIN Y. MCDONALD, ESQ., is the Interim Title V State Abstinence Education Coordinator and a Management and Program Analyst with the Administration for Children and Families/Family and Youth Services Bureau. Ms. McDonald joined the Abstinence Education staff in September 2005. Immediately prior to her position with the Department of Health and Human Services, Ms. McDonald served as a Special Assistant in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives—part of President George W. Bush’s national faith-based and community initiative. Ms. McDonald’s primary responsibilities included development and implementation of a national ex-offender employment demonstration project called Ready4Work. The project served as a foundation for the Administration’s $300 million Prisoner Re-entry Initiative announced in the January 2004 State of the Union address. For the past 15 years, Ms. McDonald has enjoyed a broad career in the nonprofit community, as well as in the legislative and executive branches of the Federal government. She also served as the Executive Director of the Capitol Hill Crisis Pregnancy Center. She completed her undergraduate work in mass communications/speech and broadcasting at Anderson University in Anderson, IN, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, VA. Ms. McDonald is an attorney, a member of the Maryland State Bar, and a resident of Arlington, VA.