Volunteers headed to N. Hollywood on Saturday, February 20, 2010 to facilitate HIV prevention games at the annual Oakwood School “Glove Affair” dance. The event draws youth from private schools through out Southern California who learn about HIV through REACH LA developed games like “Tongue Billiards” and “Condom Races.” Youth also learn about HIV transmission through needle sharing while REACH LA volunteers apply temporary tattoos. The activity that really gets youth thinking is REACH LA’s Fortune Telling booths where participants learn of their future through customized fortune telling cards. “The youth get really spooked when they learn about themselves and how they might be putting themselves at risk,” says REACH LA Ovahness Program Manager Greg Wilson, “the experience opens the door for the opportunity to talk about HIV prevention and risk taking which could save their lives.” REACH LA volunteers in attendance were Devaughn Sherman, Josh Wilson, Tim Ochoa, David Johnson, Michael Robeson, Malcolm Harper, Shawn Douglas, De’Shawn Jennings, Manuel White and REACH LA staff Carla Gordon, Greg Wilson, Sean Harris and Danielle Wondra.
Fifty REACH LA volunteers educated 1,300 youth from Los Angeles area high schools, community-based organizations and programs at the annual Macy’s Passport Fashion Inform reception on Friday, September 25. The reception provides a great opportunity to teach youth about HIV in a fun and direct way. Interactive games and activities run by trained volunteers provide “teachable moments” about needle sharing (rub on tattoo booth); sexual risk reduction 
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Did you know that sharing needles with others when tattooing or piercing can put you at risk for HIV? That is what 50 REACH LA volunteers learned this week when training for Macy’s Passport Fashion Inform, a fashion show fundraiser that raises millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS prevention organizations. For it’s efforts in the HIV field, REACH LA has been chosen to be a beneficiary of this year’s event. The 50 trained volunteers will run REACH LA’s HIV prevention education games at a pre-show reception for 1,300 Los Angeles youth. No tickets are sold for this special event where LA youth are treated to a million dollar runway show complete with top musical acts and celebrities. Volunteers consist of REACH LA’s Ovahness and G2G Leadership teams, RLA Peer Health Advocates, alumni, Pitzer College and Oakwood High School Students. Thanks to all the volunteers for their loyal dedication and support of REACH LA.
SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, July 25, 2009
REACH LA Presents
OVAHNESS 4 Ball: L’ Acte Finale
Saturday, July 25, 2009
GAM Art Center
4975 W. Pico Blvd., LA, CA 90019
Tickets: $30 Tables: $100
Ball starts promptly at 10pm and ends at 1AM
For more information contact Greg at 213-622-1650 x109 or Sean at x103
Categories are posted on myspace.com/ovahness
REACH LA is proud to announce that Francisco (Frank) Armenta, 20, REACH LA’s own Ovahness Leader, has received the 2009 Courage Award by the Colin Higgins Foundation. Frank is one of three national winners who will be honored at the Trevor Project Gala in New York City on June 29, 2009.
Battling homophobia on a daily basis in East Los Angeles, Frank was routinely called a “faggot” throughout high school. After being kicked out of class by a teacher for “gay” artwork on his binder, Frank called a parent-teacher meeting, only to learn that his Mexican-Catholic family would not stand up for him due to their embarrassment that he was gay. This experience fueled him to become an activist, spanning from collaborating with the GSA to design a new web-based campaign, ”Be An Ally”, to support gay youth at his predominantly Latino high school, to becoming the youngest certified HIV Counselor and Tester in LA county. Through his activism to increase youth HIV testing, Frank has been able to provide invaluable recommendations to key policy makers on best practices for treating queer youth of color during the testing process. Currently, Frank works at REACH LA as a Social Enterprise Assistant and Peer Health Counselor, and continues to fuse his passion for graphic art design with his activism by creating all the electronic and print media for the Ovahness program serving queer young men of color. He also helps support other community LGBT youth groups such as Connect to Protect by creating original designs for their marketing materials and media campaigns.
Ana Lopez, REACH LA’s former Outreach Coordinator, also received the Courage Award honor in 2006.
Calling all REACH LA Alumni Peer Health Educators and G2G Leaders!!
REACH LA’s Girl2Girl Program
FRIENDRAISER & REUNION BRUNCH
We are going through a lot of changes here at REACH LA and we need your help to get the word out about what we are up to.
This event will be a great opportunity to network and combine forces with a variety of women and/or just check in with old friends. Brunch will be served during an open conversion about REACH LA’s latest efforts to make change and how you can help!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
11 AM - 1 PM
@ REACH LA
1400 E Olympic Blvd. Suite #240
Los Angeles, Ca 90021
Please RSVP via e-mail: Kafi_REACHLA@earthlink.net or 213-622-1650 x101.
Maurice Burnett, MSW, Assistant Professor of Counseling at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College came to the joint Ovahness and G2G Leadership meeting on March 18 to discuss pathways to higher education. Mr. Burnett shared his own pathway to higher education and how his Master’s Degree in Social Work helps him with his current job as a counselor. “I think the most valuable piece of the presentation was his encouragement of learning a trade and using that means to support the pursuit of higher education. Our youth need to see other options of how to obtain their goals,” said Executive Director Martha Chono-Helsley, “the pathway to higher education is filled with many potholes - cost to attend, books, bad school experiences can be hard to overcome. Obtaining a certificate in a trade or vocation can lead to new and exciting paths that can ultimately provide the financial and confidence needed to move on to an AA, BA and beyond.”
The OVAHNESS Fire & Ice Skate Party on Friday, February 20th was a huge success! Two-Hundred youth participated in REACH LA’s HIV risk reduction counseling sessions to gain free entry the event. REACH LA Peer Advocates helped youth obtain free HIV and STD testing while they waited for the doors to open. Free testing was provided by the LA Gay and Lesbian Center’s POW Mobile Testing Unit. DJ Ben rocked the house with a great mix of sounds. 
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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
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!
Click here to see the video on-line…
