East of the River | June 2007 | Covenant House Washington’s Health and Prevention Fair

Covenant House Washington’s Health and Prevention Fair

Keeping DC’s Youth in the Loop

by: Kendra Langdon

On May 23, nearly 500 students from schools in Wards 7 and 8 eagerly flooded the Town Hall Education Arts & Recreation Campus on Mississippi Avenue, SE, for Covenant House Washington’s fifth Health and Prevention Fair. The fair, under the theme Circle Up For Prevention, exposed youth ages 11-17 to a continuous cycle of District service and support providers.

Shanita Burney, director of prevention services for Covenant House Washington, started the fair as the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Fair in 2001. The fair still emphasizes teen pregnancy prevention and intentionally coincides with National Teen Pregnancy Month, but it also focuses on education about and prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse and violence.

Students at this year’s fair were invited to gather information from a host of local service and support providers, to participate in YouthSpeak! open mic sessions with Baltimore poet Olu Butterfly, and to deepen their comprehension and management of daily challenges through workshops with such organizations as DC Rape, Girls Inc., City Year and Women Empowered Against Violence.

Among the more than 45 organizations filling the Boys and Girls Clubs gymnasium were Planned Parenthood of Metro Washington, Sasha Bruce Youthwork, the DC Rape Crisis Center, Teen Life Choices, Men Can Stop Rape and several healthy-living programs run by the DC Department of Health.

Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC’s leaflet reading, “A baby costs $785 a month. How much is your allowance?” was so popular with the teenage crowd that it was gone by 11 a.m. PPMW, which provides confidential STD and HIV testing, birth control, gynecological exams and family planning education at five health centers in the DC metropolitan area, is headquartered at 1108 16th St., NW. To learn more, call 202-347-8500, or visit www.ppmw.org.

Sasha Bruce Youthwork, located at 741 Eighth St., SE, was at the fair promoting its Health, Options and Prevention Education program for educating and supporting youth in making wise sexual choices. In addition to H.O.P.E., the organization offers a variety of programs and services for youth ages 13-24, including transitional living services, assistance and facilities for homeless teens and young mothers, vocational training and AIDS prevention services. For more information, call 202-675-9340, or visit www.sashabruce.org.

The DC Rape Crisis Center, the city’s only center of its kind, attracted lots of attention with a quiz about the misconceptions surrounding rape. The center, which offers free counseling to rape survivors, free and low-cost self-defense training and community education sessions, also held informational workshops throughout the day. For more information about the DC Rape Crisis Center, call 202-232-0789, or visit www.dcrcc.org. The center’s 24-hour emergency hotline is 202-333-RAPE.

Metro Teen AIDS, which offered colorful leaflets and real life stories about HIV/AIDS victims to curious teens, boasts a drop-in clinic, free HIV testing and training on peer and community education. The organization is located at 651 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, and can be contacted by calling 202-543-9355 or visiting www.metroteenaids.org.

Men Can Stop Rape highlighted its Strength Campaign, distributing postcards that read “My Strength is Not for Hurting” and telling students how they could join Men of Strength Clubs and begin learning and teaching others about the responsibility of men in stopping rape. For more information, visit www.mencanstoprape.org, or call 202-265-6530.

The DC Department of Health sponsored several tables at the fair. Among the services that the DOH offers to communities east of the river are the free Southeast STD clinic on the grounds of the DC General Health Campus, 19th Street And Massachusetts Avenue, SE, Building 8; the free Maternity Outreach Mobile Unit, which travels through neighborhoods and offers prenatal services; and the DC Healthy Start Project, which sponsors the Mobile Unit and offers home visits, STD and HIV/AIDS education, free pregnancy testing and screenings for domestic violence and substance abuse. To learn more about these and other services, contact the DOH Maternal and Primary Care Administration at 202-698-7009 or 1-800-MOM-BABY.

Other organizations present at the fair included the Children’s National Medical Center, the Children’s Health Project of DC, Job Corps, Concerned Black Men, Howard University College of Dentistry, Earth Conservation Corps and the DC State Education Office’s Nutrition Services. While not all of the organizations involved in the fair deal directly with issues of pregnancy, HIV/AIDS or substance abuse prevention, they are all dedicated to building safer, healthier communities for DC’s young people.


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Covenant House Washington’s Health and Prevention Fair
Keeping DC’s Youth in the Loop
by: Kendra Langdon
On May 23, nearly 500 students from schools in Wards 7 and 8 eagerly flooded the Town Hall Education Arts & Recreation Campus on Mississippi Avenue, SE, for Covenant House Washington’s fifth Health and Prevention Fair. The fair, under the theme Circle Up For Prevention, exposed youth ages 11-17 to a continuous cycle of District service and support providers. Shanita Burney, director of prevention services for Covenant House Washington, started the fair as the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Fair in 2001. The fair still emphasizes teen pregnancy prevention and intentionally coincides with National Teen Pregnancy Month, but it also focuses on education about and prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse and violence. Students at this year’s fair were invited to gather information from a host of local service and support providers, to participate in YouthSpeak! open mic sessions with Baltimore poet Olu Butterfly, and to deepen their comprehension and management of daily challenges through workshops with such organizations as DC Rape, Girls Inc., City Year and Women Empowered Against Violence. Among the more than 45 organizations filling the Boys and Girls Clubs gymnasium were Planned Parenthood of Metro Washington, Sasha Bruce Youthwork, the DC Rape Crisis Center, Teen Life Choices, Men Can Stop Rape and several healthy-living programs run by the DC Department of Health. Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC’s leaflet reading, “A baby costs $785 a month. How much is your allowance?” was so popular with the teenage crowd that it was gone by 11 a.m. PPMW, which provides confidential STD and HIV testing, birth control, gynecological exams and family planning education at five health centers in the DC metropolitan area, is headquartered at 1108 16th St., NW. To learn more, call 202-347-8500, or visit www.ppmw.org. Sasha Bruce Youthwork, located at 741 Eighth St., SE, was at the fair promoting its Health, Options and Prevention Education program for educating and supporting youth in making wise sexual choices. In addition to H.O.P.E., the organization offers a variety of programs and services for youth ages 13-24, including transitional living services, assistance and facilities for homeless teens and young mothers, vocational training and AIDS prevention services. For more information, call 202-675-9340, or visit www.sashabruce.org. The DC Rape Crisis Center, the city’s only center of its kind, attracted lots of attention with a quiz about the misconceptions surrounding rape. The center, which offers free counseling to rape survivors, free and low-cost self-defense training and community education sessions, also held informational workshops throughout the day. For more information about the DC Rape Crisis Center, call 202-232-0789, or visit www.dcrcc.org. The center’s 24-hour emergency hotline is 202-333-RAPE. Metro Teen AIDS, which offered colorful leaflets and real life stories about HIV/AIDS victims to curious teens, boasts a drop-in clinic, free HIV testing and training on peer and community education. The organization is located at 651 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, and can be contacted by calling 202-543-9355 or visiting www.metroteenaids.org. Men Can Stop Rape highlighted its Strength Campaign, distributing postcards that read “My Strength is Not for Hurting” and telling students how they could join Men of Strength Clubs and begin learning and teaching others about the responsibility of men in stopping rape. For more information, visit www.mencanstoprape.org, or call 202-265-6530. The DC Department of Health sponsored several tables at the fair. Among the services that the DOH offers to communities east of the river are the free Southeast STD clinic on the grounds of the DC General Health Campus, 19th Street And Massachusetts Avenue, SE, Building 8; the free Maternity Outreach Mobile Unit, which travels through neighborhoods and offers prenatal services; and the DC Healthy Start Project, which sponsors the Mobile Unit and offers home visits, STD and HIV/AIDS education, free pregnancy testing and screenings for domestic violence and substance abuse. To learn more about these and other services, contact the DOH Maternal and Primary Care Administration at 202-698-7009 or 1-800-MOM-BABY. Other organizations present at the fair included the Children’s National Medical Center, the Children’s Health Project of DC, Job Corps, Concerned Black Men, Howard University College of Dentistry, Earth Conservation Corps and the DC State Education Office’s Nutrition Services. While not all of the organizations involved in the fair deal directly with issues of pregnancy, HIV/AIDS or substance abuse prevention, they are all dedicated to building safer, healthier communities for DC’s young people.