The WAKE organization (WAKE stands for Women Accessing Knowledge Empowerment) makes grants available to non-profits whose missions involve social justice. Nevada County Citizens for Choice (C4C) President Elaine Sierra successfully applied for one such WAKE/Tech2Empower grant. In her application, Elaine asked for assistance in using digital media to raise awareness of the Clinic’s new location in Grass Valley. The project paired corporate mentors who volunteered their time to work with a team representing C4C. These corporate mentors developed actionable solutions and offered expert advice. The team representing C4C included: Abigail Rangel, of Women’s Health Specialists; Erin McGhee, Citizens for Choice Board Secretary and Sierra College student, Emma Sheffo, CalPoly student; and Jocelyn McKinley, Bear River High School junior. Three corporate advisors were assigned to the team, two of whom came from Cendzyne, and one from Google.

The Tech2Empower project ran for six weeks, using Zoom for all meetings, starting with a kick-off meeting February 24 and a wrap-up meeting April 8 for all participating non-profits. During the four meetings in between, the team of seven women met weekly through Zoom to focus on the challenge of increasing the community’s awareness of C4C and its services. Advisors over time developed actionable ways to address those challenges.

The resulting suggestions coming out of these meetings gave the C4C team some specific tasks to present to the Board on how to improve its digital media outreach to the community. For example, the websites for C4C and Women’s Health Specialists were deemed to need more obvious connection to each other. Appointments are made with Women’s Health Specialists (in Chico) for clients who need them in Grass Valley. Separate Facebook accounts for both C4C and Women’s Health Specialists also need to indicate their connection to each other. In addition, C4C Instagram account postings were advised to contain more hashtags to enable more hits from Google searches, with the goal of increasing followers and spreading awareness through this media.

Other miscellaneous areas of potential effectiveness included descriptions of the Clinic’s telehealth services, as many clients likely are not aware that they can receive virtual pre-appointment advice and information that can help them determine a plan of action for their reproductive health. Encouragement was given toward having a booth at different kinds of public gatherings to once again be known as a healthcare clinic—because reproductive health is healthcare.

All in all, participants gained insights and motivation to strategize a campaign to let the public know that Citizens for Choice is an option for the many services sought in the reproductive health area. Undoubtedly, we face a time where C4C needs to be on the radar of those women whose reproductive rights are likely be denied, based on state residence. Grass Valley, California, may well become a destination to regain those rights.

By Cece Royal

By Marty Dekay-Bemis

Comprehensive sex education has long been recognized as an essential part of growing up. Studies have shown that when teens have access to this information, they make wiser decisions about their sexuality and are less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. The gap in our local schools regarding providing comprehensive sex education is felt county wide. Citizens for Choice(C4C) is dedicated to narrowing that gap when possible. In 2021, C4C partnered with Bright Futures For Youth (BFFY) to reach adolescents with peer-led comprehensive sex education.

BFFY serves over 200 adolescents in their programs (The Friendship Club, NEO, and Safe), providing a perfect opportunity to reach many young people with accurate information about reproductive health. Adolescents are more receptive to information about sensitive subjects when they hear it from their peers, as opposed to adults. Peer-led sex education is an especially good example of this. BFFY has developed a well-established peer helper program that has been in place for many years. The peers teach youth in their programs about many aspects of their development, including relationships, social media safety, and much more. Expanding their peer helper program to incorporate comprehensive sex ed greatly complements this program.

Prior to receiving training, interested peer helpers went on a field trip to The Clinic! where they received a tour as well as in-depth and hands-on information about the services the clinic offers. Mackenzie Dillis, Certified Nurse Midwife and medical provider for The Clinic!, was on hand to answer questions from the peer helpers. Stepping inside the clinic was an eye-opening experience for the peer helpers and they were eager to learn all they could so they could pass along their knowledge during their presentations at The Friendship Club (TFC).

Nine peer helpers received training that included comprehensive sex education. Out of the nine, two young women stepped forward, eager to present the information to a group of 12 ninth graders. Using a well-developed powerpoint, they delivered accurate and non-judgmental information in a safe environment that was familiar to the girls. Responses from the 9th-grade students were overwhelmingly positive, and a follow-up quiz confirmed that they had learned a great deal from the presentations. 

Future plans for the BFFY/C4C partnership include further development of the sex-ed component of the peer helper program to deliver information to youth in all programs that BFFY offers. Ultimately reaching over 200 adolescents with comprehensive sex education will enable Citizens for Choice to narrow the gap of information among adolescents in our communities.