Take a look at this year's Annual Report here.

Dear John,

Young people are deeply skilled activists, and their commitment to sexual health, rights, and justice is unwavering. In 2021, we worked alongside them to face the year’s many challenges. Download our annual report here to see how.

This year, we witnessed the democracy-threatening insurrection at the US Capitol; draconian challenges to voting rights; the insurgence of dangerous COVID-19 variants; and coordinated conservative threats to sex education, the teaching of honest American history, and the ability of trans youth to fully participate in school. Most recently, we experienced the unconstitutional decimation of abortion access in Texas and continued challenges to Roe v. Wade from Mississippi, Kentucky and more. To put it plainly, it's been a difficult year.

Yet, as we weather these tumultuous times, our powerful and committed youth activists and staff members remain undeterred, passionate about justice, and willing to fight for every young person’s right to health equity. Over the past year, more times than not, I have found myself marveling at the impact Advocates’ staff and youth activists have been able to make in a world that continues to be in crisis.

You can support these young activists with a donation of $50, $25, or even just $10 here.

Here are just a few examples:

• Youth activist Audin founded the California student-led campaign and coalition, Free the Period, which organized for bill AB367 to make menstrual products available for free throughout K-12 public schools, public universities, and other public restrooms in the state. Audin collected period testimonials from young people about their need for free menstrual products; organized legislative education days for youth activists; created and distributed a resource guide that explains the impacts of period poverty on students; and hosted a menstrual equity week of action. As a result of Audin’s hard work, the legislation passed out of the California Assembly 79-0 and Governor Newsom signed the bill into law on October 10, 2021.

• After successfully mobilizing the administration at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) to create gender-neutral restrooms on all three campuses of the HBCU, Shabre, a UDC youth activist, successfully campaigned for the establishment of a UDC LGBTQ+ Advisory Council to consult and advise the school’s administration on the needs and priorities of LGBTQ+ students.

• Kayla, a recent graduate of Columbus State University, was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS (PACHA). She is currently working with her local state representative to decriminalize laws that are harmful to people living with HIV.

• Hanh and Ari, activists at the University of Alabama - Birmingham, mobilized their peers, met with administrators, and successfully advocated for trans and nonbinary students to be able to have their preferred names on their diploma rather than their legal name.

• Know Your IX, Advocates’ survivor- and youth-led initiative that aims to empower students to end sexual and dating violence in their schools, delivered to the Department of Education a petition with more than 55,000 survivor signatures and met with Administration officials to advocate for immediate improvements to Title IX and the rights of sexual abuse survivors.

• Advocates’ Texas Youth Activist Alliance, worked tirelessly against SB8, the states’ draconian abortion ban, then raised money to support the work of the states’ abortion funds, and educated thousands of their peers about the meaning of the law and other ways to access abortion care when needed.

Advocates’ network spans more than 100,000 youth activists on more than 1,200 college campuses, reaching all 50 states and more than 100 countries. They are organizing at the federal, state, and local levels, mobilizing their peers, and advocating for policies and practices among college administrators, city councils, school districts, and chambers of commerce to support young people and other marginalized groups. Our youth activists are making a difference in the lives of their peers despite the obstacles that lay before them. The impact they have made is evident. This is the power of youth activism.

My pride and admiration for our youth activists, working to dismantle a system designed to police their bodies, silence their voices, and strip them of their autonomy, cannot be overstated. In partnership with youth activists, Advocates for Youth will keep the pressure on policymakers in 2022 and ensure that young people have the resources and support they need to live healthy lives and thrive.

Your donation will allow our youth activists to center their voices and drive change in their communities.

Sincerely,

Debra Hauser
President
Advocates for Youth