My name is Denise Hunter and I am the President & COO of FAME Corporations and the First Lady of First AME Church. First, I would like to thank Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas for the excellent leadership he has demonstrated by sounding the alarm on this very important issue and for bringing the right people together to do the work of addressing this issue.
I also want to thank the army of First Ladies from various churches and denominations and all the other women have taken on the role as advocates for children in joining together to clearly state that the rising numbers of Sexually Transmitted Infection cases in our community are unacceptable. In the tradition of Africa, we are bringing the village together to ensure that we all understand the issue and play a significant role in educating and empowering our young people.
As such, in the coming weeks and months we will be rolling out a three-prong plan with various levels of service provision and collaboration among our partners that is designed to protect and preserve the health of our children.
This three-prong plan involves:
1. Education and Public Awareness - A recent national survey reported that 34% of African American teens have had sex before age 15, as contrasted with 19% of Latinos and 14% of white teens. Clearly education and public awareness for our teens and their parents is needed to turn this statistic around. Through this prong of our campaign our goal is to educate our community on the dangers of risky sexual behaviors and to also provide a counter message to the glamorization of sex as is promulgated in the media.
The second prong is:
2. Testing and Medical treatment and support - In conjunction with the Department of Health our goal is to remove the stigma associated with providing and utilizing the testing and treatment services offered by the Department. No one should feel ashamed or singled out when trying to get help, nor should we allow our young people to be paralyzed with fear because of the stigma associated with testing and treatment. STI’s untreated can cause permanent damage to a woman’s reproductive organs and in some instances lead to death. We must remove any barriers to treatment!
The third prong is:
3. Counseling Services – We all recognize that we cannot just treat the disease but that we must also find the root cause of the problem. By offering free counseling services we hope to understand and change the circumstances that have led to the risky behaviors and identify other factors such as molestation that are contributing to the spread of STI’s and negatively impacting the mental health of our children. We can no longer afford to stick our head in the sand when dealing with tough issues. We must face them head on. This plan will do just that.
In closing, we firmly believe that when this plan is fully implemented it will serve as a national model for community collaboration and the pro-active approach to the reduction and ultimate elimination of the spread of STI’s.
Thank you for your support!
FAME Church Photo, Haywood Galbreath , 9/19/11
First Lady Denise Hunter Featured in the LA Focus
FAME Family we acknowledge our own First Lady Denise Hunter who is featured on the cover of the LA Focus. Mrs. Hunter is leading First Ladies of from Churches throughout Southern California to help educate our young people about the alarming rise of Sexually Transmitted Infections in our community.
Pick up your copy of the LA Focus to learn more. http://www.lafocusnewspaper.com/
