63rd Family Institute Conference
HBCUs on the Frontline: Scholarship, Programs, and Interventions for HIV/AIDS Risk Reduction
April 16-18, 2007
Purpose
 |
In order to begin a serious offensive against this potential threat
on our campuses, this year’s Family Institute Conference will convene
a cadre of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We
seek to address 5 major components that are relevant to any serious contravening
endeavor: 1) key college administrators; 2) key secondary school administrators/teachers;
3) college students; 4) faculty; and 5) clergy. The objectives
of the initiative are to:
| 1. | Identify and characterize structural and administrative resources and barriers to effective prevention programming on historically black college and university campuses. Structural and administrative barriers may exist (in different forms and degrees) on Historically Black College and University (HBCU) campuses that can hinder the ability of administrative staff to implement programs targeting reduction of sexual risk-taking behaviors, or promotion of safer sex practices. |
| 2. | Identify and characterize structural and administrative issues in urban middle/high schools related to providing effective and culturally appropriate health education programs focused on sex, sexuality, and sexual risk behaviors. Taken together, the evidence suggests that primary prevention programs need to begin early in life, before risk-taking behaviors cement themselves as part of young people's behavioral repertoires. |
| 3. | Reduce the level of college student engagement in health risk behaviors including binge drinking, cigarette smoking, drug use, and unsafe sexual practices that increase their likelihood of serious health problems. College students' perceptions and opinions of these health risk behaviors have an impact on the way they ultimately behave. |
| 4. | Help faculty to provide appropriate and safe spaces for critical thinking about issues of sex, sexuality, and risky sexual behaviors. Faculties at Historically Black Colleges and Universities are in the position to develop safe and appropriate environments where students can feel empowered to critically discuss and evaluate information related to these issues. |
| 5. | Bring clergy together to dialog about the role organized religion can play in offering alternative behavior strategies related to sex, sexuality, and risky sexual behaviors. How have churches traditionally dealt with these issues? What are some of the barriers to “preaching” about these issues? How can church leadership develop positive strategies that appropriately address issues of sex, sexuality, and risky sexual behaviors? The outcome of this session will be a set of action-oriented statements that can facilitate introduction of sensitive topics into the church environment. |
Conference Background
The conference is being convened around the Annual Family Institute Conference of Morehouse College. In the spring of 1944, Walter R. Chivers instituted a lecture series devoted to issues concerning the African American family. He was concerned about the marriage rates in the Black community and out of wedlock child bearing. Dr. Chivers was an early advocate of family planning. Following in this tradition, Dr. Anna Harvin Grant extended the Family Institute into the community by having area high school students attend the spring lectures. The Family Institute continues in the tradition of Drs. Chivers and Grant by addressing issues surrounding the Black family and community. This year, the Family Institute Conference, its 63rd, is organized around the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It has been 25 years since the first reported cases of AIDS in the U.S. Few conditions loom with as large a potential impact on the Black family and community as HIV/AIDS. The Family Institute’s 63rd meeting marks an important contribution to the ultimate demise of this pandemic.
Overview
Students are keenly aware of the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. This awareness, however, does not necessarily form a direct link to understanding and it is not sufficient to initiate behavior change. This year’s Family Institute Conference will be an opportunity for those of us engaged in the multifaceted enterprise of schooling to come together to discover what works (and conversely, what doesn’t work) in conveying culturally appropriate and accurate information relating to sexual risk taking among college students. The conference is about providing useable approaches—not just describing the problem or issue. Historically Black Colleges and Universities are central to the production of African American leadership. We invite students and key decision makers from each of these schools to address the structural/cultural issues that are useful in promoting positive behavior change as well as issues that may be barriers to dealing with sensitive topics such as sex, sexuality and risky sexual behaviors.
