EyesOpenIowa

Mission

The mission of EyesOpenIowa is to support Iowa communities in ensuring the sexual health of all adolescents through advocacy, education and collaboration.

Recent News

State & County Adolescent Sexual Health Fact Sheets

A first-of-its-kind statewide adolescent sexual health fact sheet is now available. Reporting on more than the negative sexual health outcomes commonly associated with teens, EyesOpenIowa’s new state fact sheet employs a holistic view of adolescent sexual health. The fact sheet reports key indicators that impact upon sexual development as well as more typical indicators of sexual [...]

2009 Iowa Teen Birth Statistics by County Released

The Center for Health Statistics at the Iowa Department of Human Services has released 2009 data on teen births in the state of Iowa. In 2009, there were 3448 births to teen mothers. Of these births, 56%, or 1948, were to mothers age 13-18. The remaining 1500 teen births were to 19 year olds. Louisa [...]

Calendar of Events

May Is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month

In Iowa and across the country, communities will be observing Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month with renewed vigor. We know our work to provide teens with age-appropriate, accurate sex education coupled with access to confidential sexual health services have contributed to this decline.

EyesOpenIowa joins national organizations Advocates for Youth and The National Campaign in providing materials and ideas for communities to use with teens and families in promoting Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month.

What EyesOpenIowa Can Do:

Provide state and county fact sheets on adolescent sexual health
Provide tips for talking with teens
Speak to your group or coalition
Provide resources
Connect you with your local agencies

What Teens Can Do:

Sign Up; Text TxT 877877 to get your questions answered free and anonymously by a trained health educator www.teenstxt.com
Take THE QUIZ on StayTeen.org and see how much you know—tell your friends to take it too.
Ask your school newspaper to focus on National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month in May
Have a booth at your after-prom program promoting teen pregnancy prevention
Talk with your parent/guardian about sexuality and teen pregnancy
Donate useful items to a teen parent home or program
Create a brochure about teen pregnancy prevention that you can share with your friends
Find out what other teen pregnancy prevention activities are going on in your area and join in—better yet—plan your own!

What Educators Can Do:

Use resources found here to distribute to your teens and families
Send press releases to your local print and broadcast media (Click here to see an example)
Create special programs and activities to highlight TPP Month. Here are a few that will be going on across the state:

Making a YouTube video with prevention messages
Labeling water bottles to be given away at After Prom events
Art Contests
May baskets filled with sexual health fact sheets, slogans & candy
Mother/daughter retreat
Distribute informational cards with eye-catching symbols attached