The Sexual Health for Adolescents Rooted in Equity (SHARE) program is a unique multi-state (Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi) program that brings together otherwise isolated evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs (EBPs) that reach communities and populations with the greatest need and facing the greatest disparities to advance equity in adolescent health. Led by the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health (MOASH), SHARE brings together the experts across six states within two communities (US Midwest and South) in teen pregnancy prevention and adolescent sexual health to implement the newest, most innovative, inclusive, and affirming EBPs alongside communities and populations experiencing the most significant disparities in sexual health outcomes.
The program’s focus populations are LGBTQIA+ youth, rural youth, and/or youth of color ages 13-19 years. Ten thousand (10,000) young people will be reached via SHARE each full program year. This will take place in a minimum of three settings across the US Midwest and South, including, but not limited to, community-based organizations, K-12 school districts, institutions of higher education, faith-based institutions, and healthcare clinics.
A cornerstone of the SHARE program is its diverse and authentic relationships with creative partners at the national, regional, state, and local levels. Each SHARE state has a SHARE State Lead organization (Alabama Campaign for Adolescent Sexual Health, EyesOpenIowa, Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential, Institute for Women and Ethnic Studies, MOASH, and Teen Health Mississippi), which will coordinate a statewide youth advisory council to inform its local EBP implementation and evaluation in specific geographic areas throughout the 5 year program period. The program engages with the creators of platforms for youth to access additional services (OkaySo) and strong evaluation partners (Michigan Public Health Institute and Policy and Research Group) to ensure an iterative process of continuous quality improvement.
As the statewide leader in adolescent sexual health with a proven ability to impact youth access to sexual health education and services, MOASH has the existing infrastructure necessary to successfully lead the SHARE program. SHARE brings together a network of experienced and capable partners that can provide a necessary systems-level approach to implement youth-serving programs in a streamlined and efficient manner to advance health equity and among those experiencing the most significant disparities in sexual health outcomes.
