A REACH LA OVAHNESS EVENT
FIRE & ICE Skate Party
Friday, February 20, 2009
World on Wheels
4645 1/2 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
Event begins at 9:00pm
General Admission $10
First 200 Youth under age 24 are eligible for a FREE admission - Ask at the door
Free HIV Testing provided by LA Gay and Lesbian Center
Justin Early author of Street Child: An Unpaved Passage made a huge impression on the OVAHNESS and G2G Leaders when he made a guest appearance at the first REACH LA Book Club night on 1/28/09. OVAHNESS Leaders Kyle Baker and Robert Howell hosted a lively discussion between Justin Early and the audience. Justin read a powerful chapter as part of the presentation as the audience read along with their own well worn copies. Many of youth admitted that this was the first book that they had read cover to cover since high school.
SAVE THE DATE!!!
REACH LA’s OVAHNESS Event Presents
Fire & Ice
Skate Party
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Event Begins at 9:00pm
@ World on Wheels
4645 1/2 Venice Blvd.
LA, CA 90019
Admission is $10.00
The first 200 youth under the age of 24 are eligible for free admission – ask at the door.
FREE HIV TESTING provided by LA Gay and Lesbian Center
For more information please contact Tyrone Carter at 213-622-1650 x104
The Girl2Girl Leadership Program received a grant of $15,000 from the Women’s Foundation of California and a $2,500 grant from the National Office of Women’s Health to continue the development and support of young women’s leadership. A surprise grant of $5,000 from the Marlborough Student Charitable Fund will also be used to support the effort of this year’s Leadership team. This year G2G will plan and host an HIV Awareness for Women & Girls Day event on March 13th at El Camino College Compton Community Educational Center and work to link up a statewide communications network among young women’s advocacy groups through the internet.
REACH LA has received generous grants from The Collin Higgins Foundation and The National AIDS Fund to support the prevention outreach efforts and leadership development of the OVAHNESS Young Men’s Health and Leadership programs. “This funding comes at a critical time when public service funds are being cut and agencies are closing their doors,” said Executive Director Martha Chono-Helsley, “we are extremely grateful for their support.”
Wednesday, January 28 @ 7:30-9:00pm - RLA Leadership presents an evening with Justin Early, author of StreetChild: An Unpaved Passage
Friday, February 20 @ 10pm-1:30am - RLA’s Fire & Ice Skate Party @ World on Wheels
Saturday, February 21 Oakwood School Glove Affair
Saturday, July 25 OVAHNESS 4
REACH LA’s Holiday Party celebrated the achievements of nine youth from the Ovahness and G2G Leadership programs. Francisco Armenta, Devaughn Sherman, Kyle Butler, Stacy Alford, Peter Singleton, Angelo Martinez, Chris Blades, Vanessa Castellano and Lorena Mendoza were promoted to the 2nd year Leadership tier where they will assume the roles as mentors and facilitators of the remaining and new leaders for 2009. Through out the past year these youth show exemplary efforts in their abilities to educate, motivate and mobilize other youth, adults and community leaders with their knowledge and representation of REACH LA. Members participated and presented at local and national conferences, met with political and health leaders on issues of HIV/AIDS, youth leadership development and reproductive health, worked on social marketing and political campaigns and participated in coalition and collaborative efforts with agencies and organizations. REACH LA acknowledged two milestones - Chris Blades completing his BS degree from CSU Dominguez Hills and the departure of Manager of Young Women’s Health Programs Michelle Horton. REACH LA would like to thank all of the very special people who came out to celebrate with us. 
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REACH LA will be hosting it’s annual holiday party this coming Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008 from 6pm-9pm, at the RLA office @ 1400 E. Olympic Blvd. Suite 240, downtown LA, 90021. The party is open to leadership members, volunteers, friends and colleagues. This year we will salute REACH LA’s youth leadership in a special ceremony beginning at 7:30pm. Please RSVP by Monday, 12/15 by emailing reachla@earthlink.net or calling 213-622-1650 x100.
Girl2Girl’s own Vanessa Castellano was selected by KABC Channel 7 news to be this week’s “Cool Kid” for her work with Watts Healthcare Teen Clinic and REACH LA’s Girl2Girl program. Vanessa was nominated by her sister for her dedication to educating young women about sexual health. KABC reporter Danny Romero visited REACH LA to interview Vanessa and executive director Martha Chono-Helsley. Romero said that the segment would air on 12/4/08 between 4pm-5pm and again on Sunday. 
Vanessa came to REACH LA with a background in reproductive health education. Her sister and brother both work for Watts Healthcare and she had been volunteering at health fairs with them for a few years. This year she joined the Girl2Girl program and enrolled herself in the newly launched RLA Peer Advocate training program. Both a dedicated reproductive health educator and activist, Vanessa helped to produce the “Sex In My City: No Options” poetry slam and completed the RLA Peer Advocate program by passing the California Family Health Council’s Clinic Workers exam and got 20 youth tested for HIV!
REACH LA’s Greg Wilson, Assistant Manager of the Ovahness Young Men’s Health Program was selected to participate in the 2009 class of the CDC/ASPH’s Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership. “It is a great honor for Greg to be accepted into this program,” says Executive Director Martha Chono-Helsley, “his selection indicates that the CDC is making an investment in our work by selecting both Tyrone and Greg to be a part of such a prestigious program.” Tyrone Carter, Manager of the Ovahness Young Men’s Health Program recently graduated in September 2008 from the Leadership program. According to Carter, the Institute program was quite challanging but provided the opportunity to learn from the best HIV prevention people in the U.S. The CDC/ASPH’s Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership program includes 4 intensive week long sessions that cover topics of program development, best practice implementation, program evaluation, epidemology, and organization leadership.