At the start of 2019, Teen Health Mississippi became a standalone nonprofit with offices in Jackson, Mississippi, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. This exciting transition has been over two years in the making. We are so grateful to our parent organization, Mississippi First, for their guidance and foresight to know that one day we would be able to better serve the youth of Mississippi if we were an independent organization.
Teen Health Mississippi was originally founded in 2017 as the program dedicated to sex education and teen health policy within Mississippi First. It originated out of Mississippi First’s project promoting sex education in public schools through Creating Health and Responsible Teens (CHART) which was established after the passing of Mississippi’s Sex Education Law (Miss. Code Ann. Section 37-13-171) in 2011. The law mandated for the first time that public school districts adopt a sex education policy.
Our future is bright! Today, we have partnerships with the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We are expanding our trainings to reach even more practitioners, teachers, parents, and youth-serving providers across the state. We are working with policymakers, school districts, and youth to make sure more students have access to comprehensive sex education. We are an organization founded to best serve our youth. Everything we create and do is driven by our youth partners. They serve on our board, run the Mississippi Youth Council, and provide ongoing advice on all our projects.
Teen Health Mississippi is a statewide organization which centers youth using a holistic 360-degree approach to provide high quality, research-based health programs. This unique competitive advantage is strengthened by our ongoing commitment to:
- Focusing on helping youth achieve overall wellness (physical, emotional, mental, reproductive, and relational) as a critical outcome of our work.
- Maintaining a talent pipeline to strengthen the leadership capacity of youth who may become members of our staff and assume other positions of leadership in the community.
- Reclaiming the sense of village within our community by collaborating within our team and with trusted partners, while elevating youth voice.
- Creating safe spaces where youth can take ownership of their health and healthcare with confidentiality and without judgment.
- Being adaptive, flexible, and nimble in an ever-changing adolescent sexual health landscape.
- Continuously investing in youth-centered and led education, empowerment, and advocacy
- Offering creative, innovative, and interactive programming and training.
- Fostering creative visioning and collective advocacy with youth and partners.
Our Work Today
From the growth of the CHART initiative, we became keenly aware of the need to expand our work:
Engaging youth advocates and community stakeholders to increase awareness of important policies relating to youth.
Providing training and resources to develop the capacity of youth-serving adults and organizations to effectively implement evidence-based strategies, programs, and services that are guided by key positive youth development practices.
To see how we’re taking action, learn more about our advocacy, programs and trainings and view our resources for teens, parents, teachers and healthcare staff.
To see how we’re taking action, learn more about our advocacy, programs and trainings and view our resources for teens, parents, teachers and healthcare staff.
View 2022 Audited Financial Statement
View 2021 Audited Financial Statement
View 2020 Audited Financial Statement