Each week the AIDS Walk Boston Blog will profile one of our programs at AIDS Action Committee. The money raised by the Walk is crucial for supporting these vital programs. This week we spoke with Andi Genser, Manager of the BE SAFE initiative and Rumsin Khoshaba, BE SAFE Mass Promise Fellow:

Throughout Greater Boston unsafe sexual activity, substance abuse, and interpersonal violence continue to represent significant barriers to healthy adolescent development for many youth.  Research shows that the majority of adolescents engaging in unhealthy sexual behavior were found to be engaging in other risk behaviors including substance abuse and violence.  Unfortunately most programs are siloed, targeting separate risk behaviors rather than looking at youth more holistically and understanding the connections between the issues.

To address these community issues of great concern in a systemic rather than isolated manner, AAC recently launched BE SAFE, a youth prevention initiative.  BE SAFE is a unique collaboration between AIDS Action Committee, The Dimock Center, Jane Doe Inc., The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, Planned Parenthood League of MA and The City School.  Together these diverse organizations are able to provide a broader focus in BE SAFE:  “We try to build  bridges at the intersections of sexual health, substance use, and healthy relationships.” 

Many out of school time programs report “lacking the necessary staff training, organizational support, and knowledge of external resources to fully engage the youth and to work effectively with parents that are needed to keep youth safe, such as safe internet use guidelines, GLBT welcoming/safety policies, ‘locker-room’ rules, or guidelines for staff about youth dating.”

BE SAFE is currently conducting a pilot with a small group of Boston youth programs that provide a diverse array of services to youth in out-of-school time. Our focus is on the staffs who have told us that they often feel unprepared and isolated in dealing with these major issues of adolescence.  “We believe that working directly with the adults and out-of-school time programs that have strong, existing relationships with youth and families is the best route to creating safe and healthy environments for young people.”  BE SAFE provides staff training, tailored consultation, and an on line resource guide (www.besafe.org) to support the eight programs in the pilot effort.  As one out-of-school program participant stated, BE SAFE training included “great group exercises, great involvement from everybody, and touched upon a lot of the areas that we struggle with in our program on a daily basis.”

In addition to working with the staff of the youth programs, BE SAFE has a Youth Leadership Board that brings together students from many of the programs.  These students not only provide authentic youth input to BE SAFE, but are also trained in many of the same issues as their program staff.   “We know that most youth are more likely to turn to other youth for advice when they have problems.  Our hope is to train our Youth Leadership Board with information that they can use and discuss with their peers.”

BE SAFE is funded in part by Grand Circle Foundation, The Boston Foundation and the Jessie B.Cox Charitable trust.  Grand Circle Travel is also a Gold Team member for AIDS Walk Boston.  To learn more about Gold Teams visit aidswalkboston.org. Funds raised through AIDS Walk Boston support programs like BE SAFE, please register or donate today to help us continue these vital services.