LYNN — Girls Inc. of Boston and Lynn teamed up with Teen Health Ambassadors to put on a fun and informative Teen Pregnancy Prevention Carnival.
Natalie Martinez, the CEO of Girls Inc. of Boston and Lynn, said that a staff member who leads the nonprofit’s Healthy Sexuality program came up with the idea.
“The idea is to have a community event that promotes not only learning about how to prevent pregnancy, as well as prevent STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), and to have healthy, positive conversations about interactions with your partners,” Martinez said.
While she is still waiting to receive the final data, Martinez said that based on what she and her team have gathered from surveys, teen-pregnancy numbers have gone up in the city since 2022.
“This is really an opportunity to bring the community into the building and, like I said, talk about these really important issues that are kind of plaguing our youth of today,” Martinez said. “We know the city has had this challenge over the years, and this Healthy Sexuality program has been very much so linked to helping combat that teenage pregnancy number.”
The Tuesday evening carnival was open to all teens from the city and featured all the classics: popcorn, cotton candy, bouncy houses, water balloons, and carnival games.
It also included education stations, where Girls Inc. staff covered a variety of topics revolving around teen pregnancy and prevention.
“When you center fun with kids, it helps to land the messages that you’re trying to get across to them,” Martinez said. “This is just a new way to introduce the material to them.”
Starting in the fall, Martinez said the Healthy Sexuality program will be in every middle school and high school in the city.
“It’s really good to know that we will have a presence in all of the schools to hopefully begin to combat that statistic,” Martinez said.
