Genesee County Health Department

Better Life Through Better Health

Date:                        May 12, 2009 

Release Date:         May 12, 2009                          End Date:   May 31, 2009

Contact Person:      Deborah Cain, R.N., M.P.A., Acting Director

                                Personal Health Division           

Phone:                     (810) 257-3619

RE:                          Genesee County Health Department Awarded

                                Ruth Mott Foundation Grant

The Genesee County Health Department has received a grant from the Ruth Mott Foundation to develop a text messaging system to connect local teens with information and resources they need to protect their sexual health.  Teens will be able to text questions about relationships or sex and get text messages back with answers and where to go for more help.  The grant will also continue support for the Genesee County Healthy Sexuality Coalition, a collaboration of local community and faith-based organizations, schools, health care providers, and youth advocates. 

The text messaging project is geared towards youth ages 15-19 because each year one in four sexually active youth will get a sexually transmitted infection (STI).  By age 25, half of all sexually active people will get an STI.  Outreach will be focused toward youth of color residing in the City of Flint in an effort to meet the needs of people who often face barriers to accessing services.

Teens who face decisions about whether to have sex, worry about becoming pregnant, or are scared they might have an STI do not always feel comfortable asking for help.  The text messaging system will allow them to ask questions anonymously and connect to local services such as health education, STI testing and treatment, free condoms, and help for dating violence.

The concept of using text messages to link young people to sexual health resources started in San Francisco.  Genesee County will join a growing number of communities around the nation using this approach.  The Genesee County Health Department is working together with partners from the Healthy Sexuality Coalition to launch the text messaging system by early 2010.

The text messaging project builds on the Coalition’s past work to map Genesee County’s existing sexual health resources.  To view the asset map, please visit the Genesee County Health Department’s website at www.gchd.us.  For additional information, please call Deborah Cain, Acting Personal Health Division Director, Genesee County Health Department, at (810) 257-3619.

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