GACC SafeSite applications are now open!

Last year was the first year that Advocates for Youth ran the Great American Condom Campaign and I’m glad to say it was a HUGE success! Here are some highlights:
 
–      3,500 college students applied to become a SafeSite.
–      1,500 students were accepted as SafeSites, representing over 800 colleges and universities.
–      SafeSites were located in 49 states and the District of Columbia.
–      50 percent of all accepted SafeSites in 2008/2009 reported limited or no condom access on their campuses.
–      217 SafeSites were Residential Advisors
–      750,000 condoms were distributed
 
SafeSites were located on every kind of college campus including community colleges, trade and technical schools, music schools, culinary schools, military schools and more! 
 
After a summer off, we are excited to announce that we are ready for the 2009-2010 school year. Applications to become a Fall Semester SafeSite are now open! If you are a college student in the United States and excited about providing condoms and sexual health information to your peers as well as get involved with advocacy efforts around sexual and reproductive health rights, then this is the campaign for you! Selected SafeSites will receive a box of 500 Trojan condoms to be distributed to their peers.
 
For more information about the campaign, go to www.amplifyyourvoice.org/gacc. Applications will be open until September 27, 2009.
 
Comments from SafeSites from the past year on various topics after the jump.

 
Condom Availability in Their Schools:
 
“Since I go to a religious school, premarital sex is strictly forbidden. Yet students are still having sex. Those few who do use condoms generally drive to the next town to buy them to avoid being seen by other students.”
-SafeSite, Asbury College, Wilmore, KY
“The health center gives them out. Students must sign in, get their file, a nurse writes in the file that they came in to get free condoms, and then the pharmacist will give condoms to students.”
-SafeSite, University of West Georgia, Carrolton, GA 
“Beside the queer-straight alliance, no one gives out free condoms. One can get condoms from the health center, but you have to make an appointment and most students aren’t willing to do that just for condoms.”
-SafeSite, Lane Community College, Eugene, OR
“There is no on-campus health center, so students are left to drug stores, or whatever other place of business sells them.”
-SafeSite, Pima Community College, Pima, AZ
“DePaul University prohibits condoms on campus. This means students cannot receive condoms from the school clinic nor do they receive information. Unfortunately, this leaves a very messy situation in terms of reproductive rights and information.”
-SafeSite, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
“Condoms are not available, either for free or for purchase on campus because we are a Catholic University. My organization, H*yas for Choice, is the only distributor of condoms on campus.”
-SafeSite, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
 Distribution Stories:
“I’ve distributed about 200 thus far. I handed some out on Valentines Day with a note saying ‘if you do more than kiss, use this’ with Hershey kisses. The students seemed to like them very much. The candy and cute quote seemed to let people open up and talk more. My campus is very conservative.”
-SafeSite, Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, WI
“I brought my condoms to one of my classes and offered them to the students around me – the class was still rather empty. They, very rudely, informed me that they are staying abstinent until marriage or until they find the right person. I congratulated them and informed them that I am here for those who decided to have sex. I sat down and listened to them behind me talking about how wrong it was that I was doing this… shortly thereafter they witnessed me giving out the rest of my bag of condoms to a group of college students just outside the building after class. Their jaws fell to the ground and I couldn’t help but smile. Reality check much?”
-SafeSite, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI
“We try to have as much fun with condom distribution as possible. At the BBQ today we served hotdogs and had a sign that said “Every hotdog needs a CONDOMent”. Many students found it entertaining.”
-SafeSite, Fulton-Montgomery Community College, Johnstown, NY
“I contributed my condoms to “Condom Pong.” It’s an event on campus in which mock games of beer pong are set up in the dorms and students play such as they normally would, by shooting the ping pong ball into the cup. If they hit a cup with condoms in it, they get to take those condoms away. This is a fun interactive way to draw students in, distribute safer sex information and condoms, and have fun while doing it.”
-SafeSite, State University of New York: College at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY
 Advocacy Activities:
“The whole experience was really positive. Along with the condoms, we handed out flyers about how to tell the governor to end funding for abstinence-only education in Illinois. People responded really well to it, and seemed enthusiastic about the issue.”
-SafeSite, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
“At the event, we collected over 250 signatures for our collaborative “Education Works” petition which we are sending to legislators in Texas to encourage the implementation of responsible sexuality education, including medically accurate information and comprehensive sexuality education.”
-SafeSite, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
“I helped start a petition to make condoms available to all students in all dorms and led a movement of students writing in to the administration to educate students on sexual awareness. This was a huge success on a Catholic campus, I feel my distribution efforts have helped the campus move forward and realize regardless of religion, students still have sex. This is a work in progress, but I think a point is being made.”
-SafeSite, Saint Xavier University, Chicago, IL
Why They Participate:
“I have countless friends who have become unplanned mothers/fathers. Perhaps this can help others in being more careful.”
-SafeSite, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
“As a young person living with HIV, I feel that I have a responsibility to my generation to do whatever I am able to do to raise awareness of and cure ignorance about HIV/AIDS.”
-SafeSite, Minneapolis Community and Technical College
“I guess the bottom line is this:  I know my residents are wild young men (just as I am) and I know what they do. They should at least have the availability to make safe sex practices easy and convenient, as this will only reinforce these practices into life long patterns.”
-SafeSite, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI
“Lubbock has a very large STI problem. We have some of the highest rates in the nation. This starts with no sex ed in our schools, but carries over to the University. I want to do what I can to stop the cycle.”
-SafeSite, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
“…my friend came up to me and asked me if I had a condom and I told her I didn’t. The health center is closed, so unless she walks to a store she can’t get one. She told me don’t kill me, but I haven’t been using one lately. It was crazy that I saw this GACC application on Facebook the same night.”
-SafeSite, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
If you have any questions, please email Sarah at gacc@advocatesforyouth.org. 
-Sarah