By Stan Martin

As Project Director of the HOPE Buffalo youth and community led coalition to reduce teen pregnancy, I am heartened to see such enthusiasm and participation in the initiative. The education for which youth, parents, and caring adults can learn is invaluable. But it’s not just the parents and youth that get involved that makes HOPE Buffalo successful—it’s the community based youth organizations, school administrators, nonprofits, community leaders, and health care providers that makes this a community collaboration.

This effort, formed last year in partnership with Erie County Department of Health, is bringing together all segments of the community to reduce teen pregnancy rates and provide teens with a healthier future by providing evidence-based education and health-related services to enhance the quality of life for youth, and by extension, the quality of life of our community as a whole.

HOPE Buffalo offers a community wide pledge for teen health that all can participate in:

  • Empower teens to make informed choices about their health and their future;
  • Foster environments that promote equity and opportunity for youth;
  • Encourage caring adults to provide support and opportunities to teens that help them grow into the adults they want to be;
  • Cultivate coordinated systems to prevent teen pregnancy, and
  • Promote access to comprehensive health and sexual education;

LuAnne Brown, CEO of Buffalo Prenatal-Perinatal Network, and Elizabeth Terranova, Project Coordinator, Teen Wellness, of Erie County Health Department recently joined Dale Martin of the WNY at Work radio show to talk about the HOPE collaboration; click here to listen to their interview.

HOPE Buffalo believes that by improving the health of teens, we ensure a healthy future for the people of the city of Buffalo.

Reference

Stan Martin is the Director and Senior Trainer at CAI Global. To learn more about HOPE Buffalo efforts to reduce teen pregnancy, and create a safe and healthy community for all teens, and for upcoming community forum announcements, visit www.hopebuffalo.org, or contact Maisha Drayton, Deputy Director, at (716) 566-2329.