Despite living with a sex-saturated media and culture, most Americans struggle to discuss the topic openly or effectively.
The standards for sex education in the United States are tragically low. Only twenty-two states require sex education to be taught in schools and only thirteen require it to be medically and factually accurate. Current abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education have both proven ineffective in school based settings, in part because they emphasize rote learning, neglecting practical knowledge and real life application. Making matters worse, parents have little guidance and often report not knowing how to talk to their kids about sex. Thanks to all these missed opportunities, teens lack the knowledge and support they need to keep themselves safe and make good decisions about their sexual health.
The results are unsurprising—the United States in #1 in teenage pregnancy, unintended pregnancies, abortions, and STDs in the Western industrialized world.
Samantha Bushman, founder and CEO of Talk: The New Sex Ed, is working to change this reality. Unlike other sex-ed programs, Talk’s approach engages both students and their parents in the conversation about how to navigate information about sex and what it means to make healthy choices about sex. It focuses on imparting practical information and strengthening the ability to use it in the real world. It empowers parents to effectively communicate with their children and equips students with the tools and confidence to be responsible for their own well being.
In 2018, Talk served 1,900 students by working with 11 schools and programs in the Pittsburgh area. Demand for the program is is outpacing the capabilities to provide it. To remedy this, Talk is looking to go digital. This brings us to our team's challenge…
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