A Guide To Implementing Take Action For Adolescents- A Call To Action For Adolescent Health And Well-Being
I.The Call to Action
The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) worked with federal and external partners to develop a call to action for adolescent health. Take Action for Adolescents – A Call to Action for Adolescent Health and Well-Being (“Take Action for Adolescents” or “the Call to Action”) is a research-based approach that is designed to motivate, energize, and inspire anyone who supports adolescents. This Call to Action is the culmination of two years of primary grassroots consultation and research with multisectoral experts on a variety of areas impacting the health and well-being of young people, including brain development, mental health, physical health, and sexual/reproductive health. It is grounded in the key principles of access, agency, health equity, meaningful youth engagement, positive youth development, quality, and a whole-person approach. Call to Action serves as a catalyst to foster collaboration and innovation across sectors in support of adolescents.
II. What is the Take Action Toolkit?
The Take Action Toolkit is designed to support anyone – policy makers, health care and human services professionals, youth-serving organizations and professionals, parents, legal representatives, caregivers – who has a role in providing adolescents with the safety, support, and resources they need to thrive, be healthy, and have equitable opportunity to realize their full potential. This toolkit may be adopted as a guide by governments, organizations, caring adults, and professionals working to support young people, including you. It is a guiding document that you can use to implement action(s) under the goals within the Call to Action. You should feel empowered to select action(s), tailor them to your specific community and system needs, and/or create your own plans to support Take Action for Adolescents implementation. This Toolkit will help you:
- Select and customize actions to implement
- Determine the most robust and effective plan to implement the actions in your organization
- Design, launch, support, and evaluate your progress on your selected actions
- Complement any existing programs and systems to enhance your implementation efforts
- Use local and community expertise in conjunction with action planning techniques
- Equip you with strategies, resources, and user-driven approaches to foster a sense of ownership and responsibility