REACH LA NEWS

Last night over 75 youth came to the Pre O3 Party held at the offices of REACH LA. Staff and volunteer counselors met one-on-one with 61 youth to discuss sexual health, risky behavior and benefits of HIV testing. Twenty youth took advantage of the free HIV counseling and testing services provided by Bienestar. As youth waited for their risk reduction session, they ate chinese food and pizza, watched movie “The Wiz”, got re-aquainted with REACH LA staff, and hung out with their friends. “Everytime we do this event I get to catch up with all the kids & house parents who have been a part of the REACH LA family” boasts Executive Director Martha Chono-Helsley, “We have a great time checking in with each other.”

The evening also marked the debut of REACH LA’s Peer Health Advocates Devaughn Sherman, Justin Yoshida and Stacy Alford, newly trained and certified community youth who work within their social networks to get sexually active youth to test for HIV. “It is exciting to see the leadership that these young men possess,” said Chono-Helsley, “They endured over 30 hours of intensive sexual & reproductive health education, HIV, STD and pregnancy prevention and client centered counseling. They then took the Family Planning Health Worker Certification exam, a written and oral exam conducted by the California Family Health Council. “We felt that is important that our Peer Advocates be well versed in all aspects of sexual and reproductive health in order to better serve REACH LA youth,” said Chono-Helsley, “they all have siblings and friends that need sexual health information - whether it be about HIV, STDs or pregnancy.”