Train 16 Minority Youth in Health Careers in DC

Dear Future Health Professional Supporter,

We sincerely appreciate your interest in and continued support of the Teen Health Promoters (THP) program at the Latin American Youth Center. Thanks to you, THP started off with a bang this fall. Our program’s success and reputation yielded yet another competitive applicant pool, with over 30 applications received from youth who are passionate about becoming future health leaders. THP’s program coordinator, Nicole, had the tough challenge of admitting only 15. This year’s cohort includes youth from five area high schools. Most are female upperclassmen, of which five will graduate next May and continue their pursuit of careers in health and/or medicine.

With your help, in November, the THP youth embarked on a field trip to the University of Maryland, where they participated in a challenge course. This experience allowed them to cultivate a sense of community, discover their strengths, and build leadership, problem-solving, and communication skills. They developed a sense of teamwork that will serve them well throughout the duration of THP and beyond.

THP has an exciting year ahead of them. With your contributions, not only will they learn about topics ranging from mental health and substance abuse to safe sex, they will positively impact their communities by organizing a series of health fairs and outreach projects around World AIDS Day, nutrition and fitness, and so forth. Additionally, they look forward to beginning their clinical internships with local community partners in the spring. Your support will help us fund their CPR certifications and TB testing required to start the internships and will help us purchase their stethoscopes, scrubs, blood pressure cuffs.

Your contributions have helped these youth make their career aspirations a reality. Thank you for giving them a chance.