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

Dear John,

For years, Advocates for Youth has given so many young people their first taste of activism that sets them on a path to change their community for the better. With your support, they’ll keep fighting for policies and change to give young people access to much-needed sexual health services and education. Fight alongside them by donating to Advocates for Youth today.

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.

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. 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.

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