Here at ONE®, nothing makes us happier than witnessing the drive and innovation of safer sex advocates as they develop new ways to promote sexual education in their communities. ONE® is proud to have backed Bridgette Agbozo’s tremendous effort to design and launch Health4Us, a three-session sexual health support program for women of color on her campus. We’re pleased to share Bridgette’s story, which is an inspiring example of how our sexual health values are advanced with education and engagement.
With the support of students, faculty and staff members, community partners, and ONE® Condoms, Elon University senior, Bridgette Agbozo, '19, successfully developed and implemented Health4Us. Rooted in Reproductive Justice values, she created this peer sexual health support and education group for women of color at her university. The project combined her love of support groups, passion for sexual and reproductive health, and a drive to serve those who previously did not have an organized space to learn and discuss their sexuality while centering the complexity of their identities.
Health4US started as an informal idea run out of Bridgette’s dorm room that she grew by spending several years learning more about sexuality and pleasure education, completing an internship with a major health non-profit organization, partnering with a local health organization, and writing a two-dozen page project proposal that culminated in the development of a three-session program. The first session focused on the 'basics' of sexuality and incorporated a lesson on how to use and discard internal and external condoms. The second session was facilitated with Shemeka Thorpe from The Minority Sex Report. In this session, students were invited to learn more about effective partner to partner communication. Covering topics from consent to understanding how the concept of pleasure is constructed, the group had an insightful discussion. The final session of the Health4Us program invited local health agency, Alamance Cares, to provide free and confidential testing for HIV, Syphilis, and Hepatitis C at Elon University.
Throughout the semester, Bridgette provided one-on-one lessons on proper condom use, held several discussions about condom negotiation, and kept several high-traffic student lounge areas stocked with ONE® condoms.
Through these three sessions, Bridgette was able to directly engage with over 40 women at her University. She used social media platforms, email listservs, and word of mouth to advertise the sessions. In an effort to connect with relevant holidays, Bridgette dressed up as a Condom Fairy for Halloween and passed out ONE® condoms across her campus.
Bridgette is grateful for the support she received from her leadership mentor, the Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellows Program at Elon University, Alamance Cares, the creators of The Minority Sex Report, and ONE® Condoms for their ever-present words of encouragement, access to educational materials, unbiased perspectives, and an abundant supply of condoms.
Bridgette plans on conducting a program evaluation of Health4Us during an upcoming Senior Seminar course. She looks forward to more partnerships with generous organizations like ONE® that support ideas and initiatives. Upon graduation in May of 2019, Bridgette is excited to further delve into the professional world of sexual health and sexuality education. She is also excited to pursue higher education in the field of Public Health.
