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Health Initiatives For Youth

Don't do drugs. Don't have sex. Teenagers today hear a lot about what they shouldn't do. But what they don't hear enough about is why, say the folks at Health Initiatives for Youth (HIFY), a San Francisco-based nonprofit focusing on health issues for youth.

HIFY's mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of young people by giving teens the right tools to make their own decisions. The HIFY staff brings its message to schools, community centers, drug treatment centers and youth correctional facilities in the Bay Area through workshops and by publications written by youth for youth.

"Teens get a lot of messages, walls put up and stop signs to hold youth back and to prevent them from hurting themselves, said Jessica Meyer, director of publications at HIFY. "But part of adolescence is taking risks, and stopping young people from taking risks is thwarting the whole point of development',"

"We used to have an HIV-positive speakers bureau, and one of our speakers used to say 'I knew about HIV. I knew how you got it. I knew about condoms and how to use protection - but what I didn't know was why I was worth protecting.' So part of our job in HIV work - and in our other work - is to help youth figure out why they are worth protecting,".

HIFY began as an HIV youth support and advocacy program in 1992, and over time shifted with the community's needs, moving to HIV youth prevention.

"In 1992, there was a lot of shock, even in San Francisco, that young people were testing positive for HIV," said Kim Compoc, director of training at HIFY. "So we were support-focused and advocacy-focused, making sure that there was therapy and basic support for HIV-positive youth. But as the epidemic changed, people realized that they could live with HIV, that it wasn't a death sentence, especially after 1996 and the protease inhibitors. It became less new, and less something to organize an identity and community around."

Today, taking a holistic approach to health, HIFY through its workshops educates straight and gay youth in their teens and early 20s, on a range of relevant issues from substance abuse to body-imaging., Booked months in advance, HIFY's free workshops, ($25 outside of the city) are offered in a six-part series. The 90-minute sessions focus on HIV and AIDS, substance abuse, STDs and relationships, young women's health, doctor's visits and medical self-advocacy and anti-homophobia.

HIFY also publishes a dozen publications to help educate youth, including zines, smaller versions of today's high glossy magazines. Though Meyer and her staff write some copy, much of the content in zines like Spill and Vital Signs, is written by teens for teens, touching on issues such as teen pregnancy, drug addiction and sexuality. Meyer and her young staff (all are under the age of 27) go to schools, community centers and drug treatment programs to solicit manuscripts.

"From the training perspective, it's amazing to have this whole publications department, where you can capture voices of youth on paper, and build a community through publications like Vital Signs, a magazine written by gay youth for gay youth," said Compoc, who has been working in nonprofits for almost a decade. "To me, that's a huge difference from other agencies, to have a panoply of beautiful publications to articulate our positions for youth and HIV and health, I think it does a lot for our credibility - and I think it separates us from other organizations in that regard."

HIFY is funded by a combination of federal funds and foundation money. Its publications are free to youth and don't accept advertising.

"Our goal is two-fold," said Meyer, "to give young people a venue to read about other young people writing about making decisions in their lives, and to give good health information and resources to kids by telling stories that young people can learn from."

In frank discussions with youth about sex and drugs, Meyer says HIFY must always walk a fine line, and often push the envelope. "When we talk about sex, talk about condoms, when people under 18 write stories about their first sexual encounter, we have to be careful," said Meyer.

The reception from the community from educators and counselors, as well as students, has been positive, says Meyer. In fact, Vital Signs, the four-year-old zine addressing issues facing gay youth written by gay youth, is still so rare in its subject matter and structure, that the publication has been requested all over the country and is now distributed nationally.

Compoc says it all comes down to information. "It's not just about preventing disease. Youth can make decisions when given the right information. In the tradition of popular education, we believe that learning comes from where participants are at - so, we're not directing youth on how to be, but giving them information on how to make choices in their own behavior."