Changing the Conversation by Raising Unheard Voices


PEP works to raise the voices of young women of color, low-income young women, queer young people, and pregnant and parenting young people around their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Although these young people are disproportionately affected by laws and policies about access to health care, reproductive choices, and sexuality education, most of the people who create laws and policies are not young people.

At PEP, we're committed to changing the larger cultural discussion and influencing policy makers by raising the voices of those young people who are most marginalized so that their concerns and experiences are taken into account when decisions are being made about their lives. PEP works to highlight young women and transgender and non-conforming young people as agents of change and advocates for their own rights and the rights of all young people.We do this in several different ways:

ONLINE: Through our website, our facebook page, our twitter feed, and our regular columns on other websites such as rhrealitycheck.org and feministing.com, we publish original articles and commentary and highlight the voices of young people writing and thinking about reproductive and sexual health and rights. Become a fan of PEP on facebook, follow us on twitter, and bookmark our homepage for the latest news and voices from PEP and our allies.

RESEARCH: PEP regularly conducts qualitative and quantitative research to identify the concerns and experiences of young people and provide tools and information based on the research to organizations and allies. Read more about our latest research project, the RISE initiative, here.

TRAININGS AND PRESENTATIONS: PEP staff and Young Women's Leadership Council Members regularly speak at conferences and sit on panels, advisory boards, and round tables. Through these opportunities we highlight the perspectives and experiences of young people (both young people engaged at PEP and the young people we talk to through our research) and we provide concrete tools for people and organizations who are interested in raising the voices of young people.