What's Happening

By Karrie Bobby | August 2, 2018
Customer Service Representative, ETR

Thinking about calling ETR? You might talk to me. I’m one of the voices behind ETR’s Customer Service Department. The other day, a customer said I had a soothing voice. That was nice to hear.

By Antwan Matthews, BS | July 31, 2018
SHARP Scholar, ETR and San Francisco Department of Public Health

I am Antwan Matthews, a native of Meridian, Mississippi, and recently graduated from Tougaloo College in Biology. This summer I have the privilege to serve as a scholar for the Summer HIV AIDS Research Program (SHARP), an NIH-funded initiative of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.    

I have an argument to offer about the ways we think about public health. 

ByTamara Neff, MA | July 26, 2018
E-Learning Curriculum Developer, ETR

One of our core values at ETR states, “We believe everyone should have the same access and opportunities in life.” This resonates with me deeply, as it directly connects to one of my personal tenets as an eLearning specialist and instructional designer: to provide quality learning experiences for everyone and anyone with a desire to learn. At ETR, I want people to easily find the valuable information and training we provide, and to be able to meaningfully apply it.

Emily Green, MA | July 24, 2018
Research Associate, ETR

ETR is a distributed workforce. This means we have four sites spread over three cities, along with a team of remote workers spread all over the country. This helps strengthen our ability to reach different populations and bring talented people on board who wouldn’t be able to commute to one of our physical offices.

If you work in the field of Equity and Inclusion in STEM, you’ll recognize this as a structural model that encourages greater diversity in a workforce.

By Mary Nelson, MLS | July 19, 2018
Publisher Emeritus, ETR

This July 7, the Google Doodle honored Helen Rodriguez Trías. This evoked some lovely memories and powerful reflections for those of us who had the privilege of working with this remarkable woman. She was a leader not only in her own time (she died in 2001), but for the challenging times we are facing today.

By Jenna | July 13, 2018
Transitioning to 6th Grade

Editor’s note: I had an opportunity to talk with the daughter of a friend about some of her recent school health education experiences. Here are some of her comments.

I just graduated from 5th grade. I’m excited about what’s coming next—I’m going into middle school next year!

By Amelia Holstom, MPH | July 12, 2018
Associate Director of Evaluation, Education, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Support for sex education among likely voters in the United States is remarkably high. Overwhelming support for sex education that provides information about a range of topics including both abstinence and birth control demonstrates that sex education in school should not be a controversial issue. How can we be so confident about this?

Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | July 10, 2018
Senior Editor, ETR

How do you do what you do? How do you keep going? Where do you find your inspiration?

Most of us doing mission-focused work have a range of answers. We connect with family. Read. Exercise. Stay active in a spiritual community. See friends. Take long walks on the beach.

By Michael Everett, MHS | July 5, 2018
Project Co-Director, ETR

Why do we deliver trainings? To share information, to build new skills—and sometimes, to help people get a whole new attitude. In my previous post, I discussed the ways emotions and feelings can influence attitudes, along with the importance of helping training participants succeed in achieving positive attitude shifts.

When participants can look honestly and thoroughly at the emotions and feelings that shape their attitudes, they’re in a better place to make a shift.

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | July 3, 2018
Senior Editor, ETR

A memory: I’m presenting a training on AIDS. AIDS, not HIV, because it’s in the mid-1980’s. The HIV test does not yet exist. Participants in this training will be working with people at risk, and at this time in history, in this country, that’s mostly gay men.

By Michael Everett, MHS | June 26, 2018
Project Co-Director, ETR

Are you a trainer? If so, you are likely to already know this truism. Changes in knowledge come pretty easily. Changes in skill take a little more effort. But let’s face it—changing attitudes sometimes feels impossible.

By Sarah Axelson, MSW | June 20, 2018
Director of Training, ETR

It’s 10:30 on a Thursday night, and I’m somewhere over the Midwest, flying home. I’ve spent the last few days training a group of professionals who, for the most part, I haven’t worked with before. The training as a whole was fantastic. Well-planned, intentional, engaging, and the list goes on. I couldn’t be more proud of our team for putting it together. 

What I wasn’t proud of was my own section, or more specifically one activity within the day-long session that I delivered.

By Ryan Watson, PhD | June 18, 2018
Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut

To come out, or not to come out? That is a very real question constantly facing LGBTQ youth, as well as a fair number of young adults, across their entire lifespan. As a researcher, one of my interests is the choices queer youth and adults make about being out. Who do they come out to? How does this affect their health and well-being?

By Stacy Soria, MPA | June 14, 2018
Lead Consultant, Stacy Soria Consulting, LLC

We need to hear some stories. Then, through listening to these stories, we need to make some commitments. It’s time to join in the process of raising up a community. Whatever your role, your gender, your experience—this is my take-home message about leadership in the transgender community: you have a part to play.

By Theresa Boschert, JD | June 12, 2018
Project Director, ETR

I’d like to tell you a story about a woman I’ll call Minnie. She’s a single mom with two pre-school aged children. She called my office one day asking for help about her housing situation.

Minnie and her children lived in a second floor apartment in a privately owned low rent housing unit. She was routinely sleeping in her car with her kids because her downstairs neighbor came home from work each day around 6 PM and began smoking. By nine o’clock, her children, one of whom had asthma, were coughing and having problems breathing.

By JT Perez | June 4, 2018
Transgender Advocate & Prevention Educator, Alianza of New Mexico

For some reason, I am seen as a leader. This isn’t something that comes naturally to me, but it’s a role I’ve done my best to step up to. I’ve received help in this effort from mentors, friends, community and family, and it’s made a world of difference to me.

Leadership is transformative. I’ve seen it change individuals, organizations and communities. It can save lives. It can lead the charge for social justice.

By Louise Ann Lyon, PhD | May 31, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR

What comes first for young adults? Education? Or Work?

In this culture, we usually view education and work as sequential stages rather than part of a mutually enhancing cycle. Our ideal seems to be that secondary and post-secondary students need to focus on school and should not be working during the school year. At the same time, we expect education to give students skills they will need in the workplace.

By Michael Everett, MHS | May 29, 2018
Project Director, ETR

I believe in the power of advocacy. It fits nicely within my belief system. But more than that, I’ve seen the power of advocacy at work. This is a strategy that can transform and empower organizations.

Today, I’m pleased to share two stories with you from organizations that participated in the Intentional Advocacy project.