2021 Annual
Report
Collaboration in times of crisis
From Our President & CEO
Janet Max, MPH, CHES
Our 2021 annual report remembers and celebrates our accomplishments, not the least of which is how we’ve been able to collaborate and work together despite the challenges of navigating the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because we know that when we stop doing things the same way they’ve always been done, and we give ourselves the space and freedom, everyone benefits.
Thank you so much for connecting with us this year and for all the work you are doing each and every day. We see you and appreciate you.
Highlights
2021 was a year of connection and hope.
True You Maryland
True You Maryland brings together partners in six rural Maryland counties. Together, we’re working to advance the sexual health and well-being of youth here at home.
Activate Collective
Activate curates, adapts, and creates evidence-informed, user-friendly resources by translating research to practice.
Power Through Choices
The only proven effective sexual health program designed with and for youth in systems of care.
Maryland Human Trafficking
Focusing on raising awareness and response to human trafficking to ensure human trafficking victims/survivors receive comprehensive trauma-informed care.
Storms & Blossoms: Navigating Parenting During the Pandemic
A year ago, we never imagined we’d still be navigating wearing masks, vaccines, and safety protocols that keep us, our loved ones, and neighbors safe while balancing our own lives. Add parenthood, working on the frontlines, and being home 24/7 to the mix, and it gets even tougher—especially for young parents who have had to traverse the foster care system as well.
That’s why ReSHAPING members Liz Aparicio, Svetlana Shpiegel, and Rhoda Smith along with Genevieve Martínez-García, Alexander Sanchez, Marissa Ventola, Amara Channell Doig, Michelle Jasczyński, conducted this PhotoVoice project from January to March 2021.
Storms & Blossoms showcases stories directly from foster care system alumni about parenting during the pandemic—their challenges, triumphs, and how they’re navigating challenging times while pregnant or parenting.
True You Maryland
All young people have the right to the information and skills they need to protect their health. They deserve age-appropriate, medically accurate information. Young people deserve answers to their questions about sex and relationships, free of shame and stigma no matter who they are, where they live, or what their income is.
True You Maryland brings together partners in six rural Maryland counties—Allegany, Washington, Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester. Together, we’re working to advance the sexual health and well-being of youth here at home.
We know it takes more than just one program or one campaign to make change. That’s why all True You counties rely on diverse teams, bringing together young people, parents, health departments, local school systems, universities, community programs, and systems not typically engaged in adolescent health initiatives.
2021 Financials
Our Supporters
Mark Barbour
Marcha Boose-Welch
Aspasia Calivas Oosterwijk
Daryl Charrise
Melanie Cohen
Jim Egan
Donna Elliston
Nadine Finigan-Carr
Stu Flavell
Patti Flowers Coulson
Marsha Gilbert
Rae Hunter
Danielle Iacovelli
Effrosyni Kokaliari
Kulash Family Fund
Marissa Latini
Kelly Manges
Cindy Mason
Anthony Motyl
Valerie Parker
Jeraleen Peterson
Liz Quinnett
Lucia Sias
Rhoda Smith
Anthony Vela
Debbie Wengert-Rippetoe
Jamie Williams
Cheryl Wilfong
Conference
#HealthyTeen21 | Virtual Conference 2.0
When planning this year’s event and knowing it would once again be virtual, we reached out to our members and past conference attendees to hear what you wanted and what would be helpful for you right now. Thank you so much to those of you who took the time to share your thoughts.
We designed #HealthyTeen21 with this feedback in mind—we shortened the overall length, scheduled shorter sessions, and varied the content (we did our first ever podcast to help give our eyes a break). For each session, we asked ourselves–what is relevant to me today and how can I take it home? We wanted to make absolutely sure our attendees signed off with tangible, practical resources and strategies to put to work immediately.
More than a year into this pandemic life, we wanted to give ourselves time to pause and reflect. When we stop doing things the same way they’ve always been done, and we give ourselves the space and freedom to change, everyone benefits. One of the ways that we can do all of this—to “level up” as Dr. Tanya encouraged us to do—is to broaden our mindset for the intersectional world we live in. By following the advice that we heard from Andrea—to invest our time in making connections all the time—not just because we want something from someone. These connections are not just about who we know, but who knows us and what we’re doing.
Board & Staff
Our 2021 Board
Chair
Rhoda Smith, PhD, MSW
Assistant Clinical Professor, Erikson Institute
Vice Chair
Shannon Rauh, MEd,
AASECT Certified SexualityEducator
Senior Consultant, JSI Research and Training Institute
Treasurer
Anthony Vela
Project Manager, U.S. Department of Labor
Secretary
Brina Bolden, JD
Contracting Officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Donna Elliston, DrPH, MSPH
Senior Consultant, John Snow Inc.
Monica Faulkner, PhD, LMSW
Director, Texas Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing; Research Associate Professor, Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin
Patti Flowers–Coulson
Public Health & Administrative Organizer, Baltimoreans United In Leadership Development, Inc. (BUILD)
Marissa Latini
Associate Director of Development, My Friend’s Place
Anthony D. Motyl, LICSW
Director of Grants & Sponsored Research, Springfield College
Valerie J. Parker, MA, LMFT, LCSW
Executive Director, Young Families of Indiana Network, Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County
Marilyn Preston
Associate Professor of Human Services, Metropolitan State University
Zanny Regas, Nursing Student, ABSN-MSN
Family Nurse Practitioner Degree Candidate, University of Pennsylvania
Our 2021 Staff
Looking Ahead
Our Priorities for 2021
Wingman
Wingman Suggestive Keyboard is an alternative keyboard for your phone that uses machine learning to help you tackle sexual conversations with ease.
Real Talk Evaluation
Real Talk modernizes sex education by capitalizing on youths’ desire to engage in peer sharing.
Many Ways of Being
Many Ways of Being is an inclusive, youth-centered curriculum focused on gender equity, healthy relationships, and safer sex practices.
DCNEXT
Centering young people as valued experts in identifying challenges to create innovative solutions.
Learn More
Check out some of our other work.
