Los Angeles Times Profiles Program To Educate Teenagers in Santa Monica About Sexual Heath Issues

The Los Angeles Times on Thursday profiled the Teen Outreach Project, sponsored by the Santa Monica-based Westside Family Health Center, that educates teenagers about sexual health issues through peer education, school presentations and a teen health clinic. The program, which received $14,000 this year from the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign, hopes to reduce the number of teen parents in the Santa Monica area. Peer educators in the program encourage teens to abstain from sexual intercourse or use condoms to prevent both pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The center, previously called the Westside Women's Health Center, was founded in the 1970s as a place for women to access reproductive health services but today provides "a range of services" to families and teens, according to the Times (Groves, Los Angeles Times, 12/4).