Advocates for Youth
71
12
"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Washington, D.C.
Founded: 1980
Mission: Established in 1980 as the Center for Population Options, Advocates for Youth champions efforts that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates believes it can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health. Advocates focuses its work on young people ages 14-25 in the U.S. and around the globe.
Tags:
national, women's reproductive health, advocacy, resource services, information services, sex education, adolescent sexual health, technical assistance, contraception, abortion, family involvement, sexually transmitted diseases, research
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
James Wagoner.
James Wagoner, a respected public policy and reproductive health expert, has been the President and Executive Director of Advocates for Youth since September 1997. He represents the organization with the media, funders, and colleague organizations, and during speaking engagements, both nationally and internationally. Before coming to Advocates, James spent seven years at NARAL, most recently as Executive Vice-President. During the decade…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
21.43%
Total Revenue:
$4,386,332
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
E-Mail:
Phone:
202-419-3420
Facebook:
Address:
2000 M Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036, USA
Twitter:
Story:
For three decades, Advocates for Youth has worked tirelessly to promote effective adolescent reproductive and sexual health programs and policies in the United States and in low and middle countries. Advocates created Life Planning education in 1983, a groundbreaking sex education program that put sexuality into a life skills/youth development context. Advocates was one of the first mainstream organizations to recognize the potential dangers of HIV for adolescents, sponsoring a national conference on young people and AIDS as early as 1987. Advocates founded YouthResource (www.youthresource.com), the first Internet intervention for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth. The organization has been at the forefront of a national legislative strategy to eliminate federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, bringing together 39 national organizations in the reproductive rights, education, AIDS, civil rights, medical and anti-censorship fields to actively advocate for adolescent access to comprehensive sexuality education. And most recently, Advocates founded Amplify (www.amplifyyourvoice.org), the first fully-integrated hub for online activism and youth-led grassroots movement building for young sexual and reproductive health and rights activists across the country and around the world. (Source: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=44)
Expert Reviews of Advocates for Youth
Evidence of Impact Summary:
Advocates for the Youth garner support for engaging kids in sexual health and reproductive justice issues. Various US public policy victories are invoked while emphasizing their ongoing emphasis on effecting change.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
The organization’s leadership, vision, and program model are most often praised as assets by respondents.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Experts note a variety of potential areas for improvement - most of which center around adjustments to program design.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Impact |
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Advocates for Youth is the only organization that works both in the United States and in developing countries with a sole focus on adolescent reproductive and sexual health. They incorporate a youth led vision and are working on issues that range from LGBT, HIV prevention, adolescent reproductive health to youth generated activist network. National and multi-state work on advocacy issues pertaining to adolescent reproductive health, participatory programs, links US to International. | ||
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They bring youth into the movement to take on proactive roles and future leadership. They have been very constructive in U.S. policy arenas, both domestic and international issues. | ||
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They had a campaign on "Rights, Respect, Responsibility" and they actively engage young people in their mission of reducing HIV, teenage pregnancy, etc. | ||
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They are an important DC voice in support of good policies and programs related to youth and sexual/reproductive health. | ||
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One of the things Advocates for Youth has done (along with a few other organizations) is through their lobbying efforts given much more voice to not just all youth, but girls and young women, in particular. | ||
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Support to local organizations with regard to research and information. | ||
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Advocates for Youth is a vital voice for young people's reproductive rights. Their lasting impact is having a growing network of youth advocates, advocating for their own rights to access sexual reproductive health services, and comprehensive sexuality education. This means that youth have a seat at the table at meetings and conferences, being a powerful youth voice and developing youth leadership on sexual and reproductive rights. | ||
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They have strong competencies in reproductive health education knowledge, have an excellent website for sharing information, offer readily available research, and advocacy. | ||
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These guys are fearless in their advocacy; even under "good" times of Obama, they don't let anyone off the hook, in defense of young people. | ||
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They are highly regarded in the field and the leadership is also very well-respected by staff. The organization is lean and is able to accomplish a lot because of the organizational environment. | ||
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They have strong clarity of vision and positions on reproductive justice and health issues, and offer one of the few strong voices on sex education. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Leadership |
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Their leadership and staff are excellent. They have vision and expertise. They are youth centered and creative. | ||
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I think James Wagoner is brilliant and that Debra is also excellent and keeps them on solid operations and finance ground as well. | ||
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They have a strong vision and leadership; they exhibit creativity and articulate a clear vision for young people. They are willing to break new ground and to stand for their beliefs. | ||
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They have strong leadership. | ||
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Their leadership is an asset -- as well as their in-depth knowledge and understanding of policy at the federal and state levels. | ||
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Their CEO James Wagoner is one of a kind; he's a mentor, full of courage and conviction, a true inspiration to the cause. I also love that they walk the talk; they really support and nurture young people as staff, advisors, which helps further their mission and values. | ||
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They are highly focused, have great messaging and strong leadership. The leadership is well-respected by staff and keeps morale high and productive. | ||
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Their CEO is particularly strong and gutsy. Their appeal to youth is incredibly important. Their sex ed materials are excellent. Finally, their LGBT inclusion is important and timely. | ||
Leadership & Program Design |
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This organization has a strong, effective Executive Director with a deep bench of second tier staff. They are effective advocates for comprehensive sexuality education as well as issues of HIV/AIDS on the global side. | ||
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They have strong leadership and a strong culture including the development of new and senior staff up/down/across the organization. They take courageous (and much-needed) policy positions and media tactics and get pulled in a lot of directions so strategic planning is key. | ||
Publications & Programming |
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I turn to Advocates for Youth for trusted information and effective campaigns. | ||
Advocacy |
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Advocates for Youth does good lobbying and good policy analysis. | ||
Program Design |
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Their focus is on young people in educating them on reproductive health. | ||
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Advocates for Youth makes the domestic and global connections in US law and policy. This is important in getting US public engaged and active when it comes to reproductive rights for young people in the US and abroad. An example is their work on abstinence-only in the US, and making the connection that the US exports abstinence only to developing countries. Also, they have a comprehensive approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights, linking health and rights issues that are linked, and this has built a broader base of support for reproductive rights. | ||
Brand |
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They enjoy trusted name recognition and have a focus on youth. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Finances |
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They probably they need help in finances and operations. Their multi-state work could use more support. | ||
Focus |
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They could probably hone their focus somewhat - they are at risk of a mission creep. | ||
Bench Depth |
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The challenge with Advocates for Youth is that the ED is so charismatic he can easily overshadow others. He is very careful not to do so, but finding ways to make the next tier of leadership more visible externally would be a useful next step. | ||
Stronger Advocacy |
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There are additional ways to develop strategies that impact policy makers to make them even more believing of their mission. As they are in a controversial area, they always have to fight an uphill battle. It takes tremendous energy to keep moving forward in the light of controversy. | ||
Leadership Depth |
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Questions remain about the depth of leadership for the future. | ||
Program Design |
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They could use a greater understanding of the intersection of education and reproductive health and policy. | ||
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They could use a little more knowledge about specific cultural issues. | ||
More Recognition |
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Advocates for Youth needs to "shine" more. Their visibility needs to be raised as an expert group on sexual reproductive health policies and to show there is a movement for sexual and reproductive health rights for young people. Raising their visibility around reproductive rights in the broader sexual and reproductive health rights framework, will strengthen their organization's impact and will strengthen a US reproductive rights movement. | ||
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They need more media coverage. Their sex education draws such public support that this issue should be more front and center. | ||
Merge |
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I think there are too many groups out there doing similar work. Advocacy for Youth should merge with and/or acquire some of the others (SIECUS) to make for a stronger, singular force. | ||
Impact |
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Advocates for Youth gets a lot of funding, but doesn't do the best work. They should mention sexual or reproductive health in the name of their organization. | ||
Marketing |
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They could use marketing to increase name recognition nationally. | ||
Leadership
James Wagoner
President and Executive Director
President and Executive Director
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
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