One Voice: Reproductive Health and Environment Summit
Contest Deadline: September 11, 2011

Win a trip to Washington, DC, to participate in the sixth annual summit! Enter an essay contest for youth advocates co-sponsored by Advocates for Youth, Americans for Informed Democracy, SIECUS, and the Sierra Club!

Click here for more info on the October 28 to 31, 2011 Summit.

Are you are interested in sexual and reproductive health and rights? Do you want to unite local-to-global advocacy efforts around issues like international family planning, comprehensive sex education, gender equity, and environmental protection? Then the One Voice Summit is for you! Find out what YOU can do to take real action for the issues you care about.

There is a direct connection between our health and the health of the planet. Today, more than one billion adolescents—the largest number ever—are entering their reproductive years. At the same time, we face dwindling access to sexual and reproductive health information and services as well as pressing global challenges like water scarcity, climate change, and poverty. The voices and decisions of this generation will have an impact on our world for years to come.

The One Voice Summit consists of a two-day training and a policymaker education day for youth activists who are interested in environmental and reproductive justice issues domestically and globally. The Summit provides a forum for participants to gather and share information relevant to the intersections of sexual and reproductive health and the environment through a human rights framework; build skills on working with the media, educating policymakers, community organizing, and advocacy; and discuss and commit to actions that they will take in their own communities to advance reproductive and environmental justice. Finally, the Summit culminates with a policymaker education day—on October 31, the very day the world's population is expected to hit 7 billion—during which participants meet with their Members of Congress to request support for domestic and international policies supportive of evidence-based sexual and reproductive health programming.

We invite advocates ages 16–24 to tell us in an essay of no more than 500 words about the potential roles youth can play in advocating for a more just and sustainable world, where all people have access to sexual and reproductive health services and a healthy environment. Please describe how you will use your experience from the One Voice Summit to advocate on these issues in your community in the coming year.

To qualify, contestants must be between the ages of 16 and 24, currently reside in the United States, and demonstrate a passion to work on issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights and the environment. The name and contact information for one reference is also required. Winning contestants will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, for the One Voice Summit taking place October 28-31, 2011. Flight, accommodations, and meals will be covered.

If you have any questions, please email nickie [at] advocatesforyouth.org.