shOUT has a beautiful future—because you are involved!
The Appalachian Highlands shOUT Coalition began as an initiative of the Appalachian Replication Project at James Madison University and did great work for 3 years. As you might know, unfortunately the Appalachian Replication Project did not receive continuing funding from the federal government, so they have ceased to exist. However, staff at the YWCA of NETN/SWVA and RISE: Healthy for Life have taken on the role of backbone for the organization. And an organization cannot live with a backbone alone!
We took a couple of months to get our ducks in a row and are reaching out now to you, the members of shOUT, to help us chart shOUT’s future.
Our thoughts and questions for all of you:
What do you value most about shOUT?
What have we done well in the past?
What are your hopes for shOUT’s future?
What do we think about broadening the focus from teens to all children so we can build healthy foundations when kids are young?
We are calling a general membership meeting to address these questions and your suggestions on Wednesday, Feb 7 from 10-11:30 a.m. This will be a Zoom meeting—register to receive the link.
We also have to consider what we can do with more limited monetary resources AND we want to ensure we respect your time and organizational resources.
We are hoping to start this transition with three focused activities:
Virtual roundtables.
Eductional content.
shOUT Summit 2024.
Virtual Roundtables
Clockwise from top: panelist Tiffany Sapp, minister at Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, panelist Jessie Birkeland, sexuality educator at RISE: Healthy for Life, moderator Cindi Huss, RISE: Healthy for Life, Josh Diamond, backbone member of shOUT Coalition, and Brian Bolton, pastor at Shalom Mennonite Congregation
Basically the roundtable is a moderated conversation with stakeholders. In case you haven’t seen it, we hosted our first roundtable, “Religion, Spirituality, and Sexual Health,” in August. Unfortunately, two of the four ministers who committed backed out at the last minute, but it is still a great conversation. You can view it on YouTube.
We would like to host further roundtables, perhaps including events with medical and mental health professionals, with youth, and with guardians. If you know people who know people, this might be a great match for you!
There is a Roundtable Planning Meeting scheduled on Wed. Jan. 10 from 10-11 a.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83873414323?pwd=aEMwVjVLRG9FQVNaQUduU0NGSTlIUT09
Educational Content
We have a website and a Facebook page, and, with your help, we can use them for good. Do we want to post curated, reshared content from members? From trusted resources? Do we want to develop original content? And who is the content aimed at? If you have a social media passion, you can help us answer these questions and begin to provide even more outreach in our region.
We do not yet have a meeting scheduled for this, but if you are interested in pitching in here, please contact cindi@riseHFL.org.
shOUT Summit 2024
Participants enjoyed a variety of workshops and talks and developed a list of strengths and gaps in our region when it comes to youth and young adult reproductive and sexual health.
The 2023 Summit was a success and garnered lots of wonderfully positive feedback. The results we shared and the barriers to health we all identified are being used by several organizations in the area to inform their work. And we want to ensure we continue to positively affect youth sexual health. If you love it when a plan comes together, this is a great match for you—and we have a roadmap from last year’s Summit to help us out!
There is a shOUT Summit 2024 Planning Meeting scheduled for Friday, Jan. 12, from 10-11 a.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89420901400?pwd=RUQyRmtvN2J4WExuT21VRzIzcUVuUT09
Say it again!
So, we have three meetings coming up in the new year:
Wed Jan 10, 10-11 a.m., Roundtable Planning Meeting
Fri Jan 12, 10-11 a.m. 2024 Summit Planning Meeting
Wed Feb 7 10-11:30 a.m. General Membership Meeting
We are looking forward to working with you all as we strive together to continue the great work we have done so far with the shOUT Coalition!
Sincerely and enthusiastically yours,
Caitlin Talley (YWCA), Mandy Boy (YWCA), and Cindi Huss (RISE)