The Role of Policy

Phyllida Burlingame

Phyllida Burlingame discusses the role of policy in implementing comprehensive sexuality education.  "Look and see where opportunities are that have a broader reach," said Phyllida.  "Include young people in discussions, they are stakeholders too."

CDC Updates ~ DASH

Sharon Wong

Elizabeth Haller

Sharon Wong and Elizabeth Haller provided an overview of the YMSM project and CDC-DASH updates,

Physical Activity Break

Full-body "Ro-Sham-Bo!"

Announcements

Welcome to "Strengthening Our Practice: Sustaining Our Efforts" in San Francisco. This three-day event will be filled with an opportunity to share strategies with HIV prevention partners and participate in skill-building sessions. 

Phyllida Burlingame

Phyllida Burlingame
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

Phyllida Burlingame is the Reproductive Justice Policy Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. Her publications include Sex Education in California Public Schools: Are Students Learning What They Need to Know? (ACLU of Northern California, 2003), a survey of sex education programs in over 150 school districts across the state, and Sex, Lies and Politics: Abstinence-Only Curricula in California Public Schools (Applied Research Center, 1997). She played an instrumental role in drafting and ensuring passage of the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act (SB 71, 2003) and the California Sexual Health Education Accountability Act (AB 629, 2007). The former requires sex education in California public schools to be medically accurate, comprehensive, and free of bias, while the latter extends these requirements to state-funded community-based sex education. Burlingame has collaborated with California state agencies to guide the implementation of these laws and also works with parents and community members, and with allied organizations throughout California, to ensure that local schools and agencies and comply with them. Burlingame also serves as a resource for sex education advocates in other states and nationally who look to the ACLU of Northern California’s work and California’s legislation as models. She is the steering committee chair of Bay Area Communities for Health Education. Ms. Burlingame is a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College.

Milagros Garrido-Fishbein

Milagros Garrido-Fishbein, MS
Healthy Teen Network

Mila Garrido manages various projects to support the use of evidence-based approaches in the field of pregnant and parenting teens as well as preventing teen pregnancy, STI and HIV. Mila assists in the research, design, development, implementation, and evaluation of trainings, workshops and presentations.

Prior to joining Health Teen Network, Mila was an Outreach Specialist for Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine-Minority AIDS Initiative. She developed, organized, and presented educational programs, training seminars, and workshops for professionals, youth and adults, as well as developed new education materials and training curricula for HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, and intervention initiatives. Ms. Garrido rendered technical assistance to area health providers to meet the needs of Latino populations for sexually transmitted diseases. She also supervised the Latino Medication Adherence Program and coordinated the access to continuity of medical care programs.

Vanessa Geffard

Vanessa Geffard, MPH
Healthy Teen Network

As a Technical Assistance Associate at Healthy Teen Network, Vanessa trains health care professionals and direct service providers to support the implementation of evidence-based interventions, as well as on the unique needs of young people.
Vanessa has many years of direct service experiences related to adolescent health, policy, and HIV. Her journey into the health and policy field started when she worked on the International Youth Leadership Council with Advocates for Youth, where she advocated and lobbied on behalf of adolescent reproductive health. While in graduate school to earn her MPH, Vanessa focused on health policy, specifically researching the positive impact of web-based interventions as they relate to decreasing the risk of HIV/AIDS among young women of color.

Vanessa has conducted trainings on youth-led policy making in Abuja, Nigeria for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her other training experience include helping college students design culturally aware inclusive activities on college campuses. Vanessa has also participated in the U.S. Sex Education Debate on Voice of American and conducted lobby day trainings for various stakeholders and health care providers in Maryland and Washington.

Vanessa has worked extensively with young people as a health educator, campus organizer, case manager, and researcher in the field and wants young people to feel empowered through proper knowledge and resources. Vanessa holds a B.S in Community Health from University of Maryland College Park and a MPH from Morgan State University.