Project Elevate: Youth-led community-level approaches to reducing rates of STIs in young women and young transgender women of color

In this roundtable, youth experts will describe our community level response to elevated rates of sexually transmitted infections in young women of color (inclusive of young transgender women). Preventing and treating sexually transmitted infections among young women is critical to their long term health and well-being. STIs are preventable and treatable. Young women of color in Chicago are disproportionately burdened by STIs.

A local community based agency, along with several community partners, supports a youth-led approach to curbing rates of STIs in young women. Methods include community needs assessment, gap analysis and expert input (from youth). Youth will present their activities, methods and results of their year 1 research, including their process to develop a city-wide social marketing campaign as well as efforts to impact structural level factors.

Youth experts form a youth-specific advisory board which works collaboratively with a separate community advisory board consisting of adult experts in public health. This process allows the two boards to learn from each other and to guide each other’s work and process. Adults have helped train youth experts in methodology; youth experts have shared their experiences with the adult board. This multi-generational approach has strengthened the community engagement of our partner agencies and has led to city-wide efforts to reduce STIs in young women of color.