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For Immediate Release

Abstinence Awareness Week Youth Forum to be held on March 9

Date:  March 6, 2009

ULTRA Teen Choice and Howard University will host a Youth forum at 6 pm on March 9 at the Howard University School of Business auditorium, Georgia Ave. and Fairmont St. NW.

Youth and parent panelists, speakers, and entertainers will be speaking out about how sexual abstinence can not only strengthen the individual, but will lead to the formation of strong two parent families in the future. 

The youth forum will feature youth who adhere to abstinence, as well as speakers Diane Sims-Moore of Families First DC and Kenny Barnes of Root, Inc.  These speakers will link sexual abstinence to a major reduction in the many social problems exacerbated by dysfunctional families.  These problems include drug abuse, crime, delinquency and domestic violence. 

Richard Urban, of ULTRA Teen Choice, which is the organizing sponsor, says the panelists and speakers will talk on the theme “Marriage and Family Matter: Abstinence is a Core Strength of the Community”.  The panelists will also answer questions from the audience. One of the entertainers will be singer Angelia Robinson. The event is part of the Fourth Annual Abstinence Awareness Week in Washington, DC from March 8 to March 14.  Co-sponsors include Families First DC/Together is Better, ALS Singles Wholeness & Marriage Savers, the Wedded Bliss Foundation, the National Council of Negro Women/Howard University, and Alpha Phi Omega, Zeta Phi Chapter/Howard University.

ULTRA Teen Choice, a youth empowerment program that emphasizes the benefits of abstinence from drugs, alcohol and sex before marriage, is working to provide a voice for about half of the youth in Washington, D.C., who have never had sexual intercourse, as well as for those who decide to make a fresh start. With its lopsided emphasis on promoting condoms and so-called "safer sax," Washington, D.C. still has the highest rates of both new HIV infections and existing HIV infections in the nation. ULTRA Teen choice works to show a better way forward for the youth of Washington, D.C.

On Sunday, March 8, Abstinence Awareness Sunday, participating ministers will invite youth to speak out about abstinence.  City Council Abstinence Awareness Day is scheduled for March 13.

Included in the week is an Abstinence Education Association-organized Abstinence Day on the Hill on March 11.  In the evening a J.A.M. (Join the Abstinence Movement) session is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The session includes musical performances, dance teams and speakers who will deliver messages of abstinence.

"With as many as 1 in 20 adults in DC estimated to be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, it makes sense to provide support for youth who want to abstain and to encourage more youth to do so.  That's the only 100 percent sure way for them to avoid contracting AIDS, as well as avoid all of the other emotional, social and moral consequences," says Mr. Urban.

For more information about Abstinence Awareness Week, contact Mr. Urban at 202/558-5550 or visit www.ultrateenchoice.org.