Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
MLK OBSERVANCES Conference to Address Teen Sexuality, Parenthood A two-day conference on "Teen Sexuality and Parenthood" will be held January 18-19 as part of a week-long MIT celebration of the birth of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The conference is open to the public. A $5 voluntary donation is requested. The two-day event has been organized by the MIT Community Fellows Program in cooperation with the WECARE Committee, Teens As Community Resources and the UMass Cooperative Extension. The program is the second annual conference in memory of Dr. King to be presented by the Community Fellows Program. Adjunct Professor Melvin H. King, director of the Community Fellows Program, said the conference is "very much needed because it gives us a chance to celebrate young families and give them direction that will lead to a positive future." The conference will begin at 3pm in the Mezzanine Lounge of the Stratton Student Center with an open panel discussion on a national perspective of policy and programs. The keynote address will be given by Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, assistant dean of community and governmental programs and health policy management at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a former Massachusetts commissioner of health. Dr. Prothrow-Stith will speak at 7pm Friday, Jan. 18, in Kresge Little Theatre. A panel discussion in which she and Professor King will take part will follow the keynote address. Other panel members will include representatives from the Zuni Parenting Program, New Mexico; the Peer Leadership Program at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School; the Traditional Childbearing Group, and the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts' Young Father's Program. On Saturday, Jan. 19, there will be several workshops on a variety of topics, including abortion, teen fatherhood, birth control, health care, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, sex education in the schools, sexual harassment, household economics, legal issues, homosexuality, education, sexual abuse, childbirth and childcare. All the workshops will involve teens and adults, in keeping with the "alliance" aspect of the Community Fellows Program's events in honor of the late Dr. King. Keri Boehne, 17, a project organizer with Teens As Community Resources, views the conference as an opportunity to "give young parents and teens the chance to express how they feel about issues of sexuality and talk about what they really need." Craig McClay, also a project organizer with Teens as Community Resources, sees the conference as unique and important "because it gives teens a chance to discuss how they feel about sex and teen pregnancy with adults, which there is not much opportunity to do." The conference program will be available at registration, which begins at 3pm Friday, Jan. 18, on the third floor of the Stratton Center.