Six Months and Counting...

So, next Tuesday marks my six month milestone with the SC Campaign. And those months have flown by. It’s been a busy time at the SC Campaign. Our 20th Anniversary Gala, followed quickly by Summer Institute, sprinkled in with Contraceptive Counseling, ICE, Seventeen Days, Reproductive Coercion, Leadership, Be Protective, Social Media and youth, training trips to San Antonio and Knoxville…WOW!! Busy is an understatement. And the fall looks even busier! I’m still learning about CEUs, nursing CEUs, MAPPS hours and all of the different processes we go through to get these approved. I’m so very thankful to all of our partners for their patience as I learn and adjust. And I’m especially thankful for Markessce Craft and Sara Lamberson for helping with all of the logistics.

We are excited about several new trainings we are offering this fall:

• Contraceptive Counseling Approaches for Adolescents (we have three sessions available!)
• Becoming an “Ask”able Adult
• Safer Sex Intervention (event page coming soon!)

Along with some great standards:

• Making a Difference/Making Proud Choices
• Safer Choices
• Reproductive Health 101 

Check out our events page on our website for more information about all of our workshops, and keep checking as we are adding more to our calendar daily.

by Shannon Lindsay, Training Coordinator, SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Farewell to the SC Campaign!

Two years ago, I embarked on a journey to enhance my understanding of pregnancy prevention. I was approaching my graduation from my doctoral program at the Arnold School of Public Health at University of South Carolina and this amazing postdoctoral fellowship position presented itself at the SC Campaign. I had not worked directly in teen pregnancy prevention before, but had extensive experience in HIV prevention. After researching the SC Campaign, I knew that this position would be an ideal next step for my academic and professional career.

In June 2012, I officially became a part of the SC Campaign staff and managed the two-year collective impact project funded by The Duke Endowment. At first, I thought this position would be similar to an internship, little did I know that I was going to be responsible for coordinating schedules, creating PowerPoint presentations, developing meeting agendas, and facilitating team meetings. Right out the gate, I had a role at the SC Campaign. I was fully embraced by the staff and senior leadership of the organization and truly felt like I was a part of the team. My thoughts and ideas were always taken into consideration and some my ideas even came into fruition in the form of a webinar focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth health and a corresponding publication. Additionally, I was able to interact with partners and stakeholders from across the state and learn about what investments are truly needed to address teen pregnancy in South Carolina. On the horizon, there is a new document being developed by the SC Campaign that will assist funders and organizations that want to invest in teen pregnancy prevention. Knowing that I contributed to the creation of this document is the culmination of my efforts and it feels good.

From the start, I felt like this postdoctoral fellowship position was a nice blend between research and public health practice. Given my background in qualitative research, I had the opportunity to conduct focus groups with parents of middle school students to examine their perception of school-based teen pregnancy prevention programs. I was responsible for developing the research protocol, research questions, facilitating the focus groups, and analyzing the data. One of the highlights of my experience at the SC Campaign, was when this research was accepted for publication in the Journal of Sex Education: Sexuality, Society, and Learning’s special issue dedicated to Dr. Douglas Kirby, an adolescent sexual health researcher who I have always admired.

I knew from the start that this was only a two-year position, but I never prepared myself for all of the knowledge and skills that I would acquire from the SC Campaign in that short period of time. I served as an adjunct faculty member at South University, became a Certified Health Education Specialist, and completed the United Way’s Blueprint for Leadership program. Having the opportunity to work with a staff as talented as the SC Campaign’s, I now feel I am equipped to advocate for teen pregnancy prevention and will continue to do so as my professional career develops.

This postdoctoral fellowship has provided a solid foundation for my career. The insight and feedback that I received from fellow staff was invaluable and for that I thank everyone at the SC Campaign for their input in my professional development. And on that note, I bid you farewell!

by India Rose, former Post Doctoral Fellow, SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Are We Ready for What's Next?

You may have heard that I’m leading a webinar this week as part of a series we have been conducting at the SC Campaign on leadership. When I agreed many months ago to facilitate this three-part series, I didn’t think much of it. Leadership is a topic that I enjoy learning about, reading about, studying and subsequently sharing what little knowledge I have with others.

The first segment in the three-part series covered the need for us to balance Leadership and Management in our roles. The second, a discussion about Leading in Difficult Times. Both of these are topics that I discuss with our senior staff frequently, topics that are very salient, and frankly, topics that I feel pretty comfortable speaking about. (Note: check out the hyperlinks if you have interest in hearing the first two installments of this series).

Who’s Got Next? is the third and final chapter in the series, where I will discuss leadership transition and developing the next generation of leaders. My comfort level on the subject wavers as I continue to read and research in preparation for the webinar. My journey has been the definition of the phrase “the more you dig, the more you uncover.” A topic that I once thought I knew something about has become a mass of data, charts, opinions and hypotheses circling in my brain that make me more panicked than ever for what comes next. But I will do my best to synthesize my experiences and research on Wednesday to begin this all-important discussion.

We are on the cusp of a never-before-seen level of transition in the workplace. As the “baby boomer” generation begins to retire in record numbers, who will take their place? My gut tells me that this scene will be especially conspicuous in the nonprofit sector.

Are we ready?  We better be…

At the very least, I hope you’ll join us on Wednesday as a beginning to this much-needed dialogue.

For more information and to register for this free webinar, click here.

by Forrest Alton, CEO, SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 

The Path to Publication

Over the years, I have learned that it takes a lot to get your research published. Not only does it take guidance, rigor, and insight on the front end to conduct the study, but it also takes strength, dedication, and persistence to get the research published. Almost 18 months ago, the SC Campaign conducted focus groups with parents of South Carolina middle school students to examine their perception of school-based teen pregnancy prevention programs. While data collection only took a few months, data analysis, interpretation, and manuscript development took a little bit more time. The research team and I worked tirelessly on drafting a quality manuscript which we submitted to the Journal of Sex Education: Sexuality, Society, and Learning special issue dedicated to the work of Dr. Douglas Kirby.

Dr. Douglas Kirby

Now, some of you may know about Dr. Kirby, but for those who don’t I want to share just how much of a pioneer he is to the field of adolescent sexual health. As a graduate student at the University of South Carolina, I cited Dr. Kirby’s work in so many of my research papers focused on parent-child communication, HIV prevention, and adolescents’ engagement in risky behaviors. In my dissertation research, I cited Dr. Kirby’s work more than 15 times, more so than any other researcher in the field. He is a true pioneer in reducing adolescent sexual risk. Dr. Kirby authored more than 150 articles, chapters, and monographs. He also authored “Emerging Answers” and SC Campaign staff served as co-authors in one of Dr. Kirby’s final publications, “Reducing Adolescent Sexual Risk: A Theoretical Guide for Developing and Adapting Curriculum-Based Programs.” Dr. Kirby is one of the SC Campaign’s honorees (being honored posthumously) for this year’s 20th Anniversary Celebration for his work in teen pregnancy prevention and his contributions to the SC Campaign.

Now that you know a little bit more about Dr. Kirby, you can see why publishing in this special issue was so important to me. I submitted an abstract to the journal and was invited to submit a full manuscript, which the co-authors and I had already prepared. We submitted the manuscript and weeks later, received the editor’s decision and feedback from the manuscript reviewers, and accepted pending major revisions. Overall, their feedback was positive, but they provided us with more than five pages of feedback. At first glance, this overwhelmed me and seemed like an impossible task to complete, but overtime the research team was able to address every comment. As with each manuscript that I have written (and published), this experience taught me to be persistent and to stay the course. Now after nine months of writing and revising, our manuscript, "Parental Support for Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programs in South Carolina Public Middle Schools," has officially been accepted for publication in the Journal of Sex Education’s special issue dedicated to Dr. Kirby. This is a huge accomplishment for the SC Campaign, who worked with Dr. Kirby for 20 years, and this publication has become the highlight of my post-doctoral fellowship here at the SC Campaign.

by India Rose, Post Doctoral Fellow, SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy