FY17-Girl-in-Computer-Lab

KYC Expands to Kane County

Ken­neth Young Cen­ter is proud to expand its Teen Preg­nan­cy and Sex­u­al­ly Trans­mit­ted Infec­tions Pre­ven­tion through a gen­er­ous $50,000 grant from the Office of Ado­les­cent Health (OAH) and the Illi­nois Depart­ment of Human Ser­vices (IDHS) to serve Kane Coun­ty mid­dle school and high school youth. KYC’s team works direct­ly with youth and fam­i­lies to pro­mote pos­i­tive, evi­dence-based edu­ca­tion to inform and sup­port youth to make healthy lifestyle choic­es. Through Youth Advi­so­ry Coun­cils based out of each school served, youth learn and work togeth­er to cre­ate com­mu­ni­ca­tion cam­paigns, edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als, and teen preg­nan­cy pre­ven­tion activ­i­ties that fos­ter safe envi­ron­ments for stu­dents to learn about HIV, AIDS, and oth­er sex­u­al­ly trans­mit­ted infec­tions. KYC staff prac­tice a trau­ma-informed approach to teach­ing youth in their class­rooms about healthy com­mu­ni­ca­tion and skills to reduce risky behav­ior, includ­ing fre­quent dis­cus­sions focused on mutu­al consent.

Over the com­ing weeks, KYC will be hir­ing a Health Edu­ca­tor to focus specif­i­cal­ly on work­ing with mid­dle and high schools in Kane Coun­ty to deliv­er their youth pre­ven­tion edu­ca­tion cur­ric­u­la and build local con­tacts for a Com­mu­ni­ty Advi­so­ry Group, includ­ing key stake­hold­ers’ input from health­care, law enforce­ment, local leg­is­la­tors, com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers, and reli­gious orga­ni­za­tions. The com­pre­hen­sive com­mu­ni­ty approach tack­les cur­rent trends and con­cerns relat­ed to healthy com­mu­ni­ties and ties close­ly to KYC’s drug and alco­hol pre­ven­tion pro­grams sup­port­ing youth, vet­er­ans, Native Amer­i­cans, and the LGBTQ+ community.

To learn more about this pro­gram or get involved, con­tact Ken­neth Young Cen­ter at (847) 2854517.


Previous Article Next Article
You're Not Alone

50%
of cas­es of men­tal ill­ness begin by age 14.

Get Involved

How You Can Help

Keep up to date with KYC!

Get the latest Kenneth Young Center news and insights emailed to you each month. Just complete the form below to subscribe.