Teenage Pregnancy Prevention
Agency Uses Cultural Lens To Cultivate the Next Generation of Reproductive Health Advocates
 nce a month, a group of Southeast Asian high school students and young women meet in Long Beach for “Girl Talk,” a forum where they may freely discuss sex and partner issues and dispel common myths and cultural norms that can lead to unwanted pregnancies and risky sexual behavior. Gathering in a comfortable room in this seaside city that is home to the largest Cambodian population in the United States, the young women, ages 14 to 21, take on subjects that are often too culturally taboo to discuss with their parents or other adults.
They come to the office of Khmer Girls in Action (KGA), a grassroots, community-based nonprofit, for the peer-to-peer open discussions and innovative cultural arts program, and stay on board to help mentor the next generation of girls and receive leadership training, becoming reproductive health advocates in their community.
 KGA is a project of Community Partners, which received a three-year, $175,000 grant from TCWF in December 2005 to continue the KGA youth leadership training program that reinforces positive adolescent reproductive health as a teenage pregnancy prevention strategy.
The six-week leadership program, offered during the school year and summer recess, includes curricula in reproductive health and skills development training in media and policy advocacy, weaving in cultural arts programming and activities that reach Cambodian and other girls and women of Southeast Asian descent in the community. New members are recruited from local high schools and at events such as the Cambodian New Year Festival in April and “Yellow Lounge,” KGA’s annual multimedia cultural arts presentation.
Key to KGA’s leadership training is the cultural arts component. Through written word, performance and video storytelling, members are given a space to explore their identity, express themselves and take action. Once a year, KGA publishes a magazine and recently released From Movement to Movement, a collection of artwork, poems and other cultural expressions created by members.
“We develop our young leaders’ critical thinking and analysis to connect reproductive health issues to the realities of their family life such as high rates of teen pregnancy and gang violence due to poverty and lack of services for young people,” said Suely Ngouy, KGA’s executive director.
The teens also receive trainings on women’s history, history of women of color, organizing for reproductive justice and campaign development.
“This program provides Khmer girls an opportunity to explore reproductive health issues using a culturally relevant approach that incorporates arts and history representing the Cambodian refugee experience,” said Cristina M. Regalado, TCWF vice president of programs.
Last year, the young leaders participated in the agency’s campaign to defeat Proposition 85, an initiative that would have amended the California Constitution to prohibit a minor from having an abortion until 48 hours after a physician notifies her parent or guardian.
Ngouy said that KGA is one of a handful of organizations that gave young women of color a platform to speak out about the safety concerns and reproductive health of young women. Members registered voters, walked precincts, staffed phone banks, and organized street actions for the campaign.
For more information, please visit www.kgalb.org
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