New Online Social Marketing Toolkit for Youth Providers

For Immediate Release: December 3, 2009

Toolkit is free to access and gives youth sexual and reproductive health providers step-by-step instructions on how to create an effective social marketing plan.

LOS ANGELES - The California Family Health Council (CFHC) and the California STD/HIV Prevention Training Center (CA PTC) have created an online resource for youth providers on how to develop low-budget social marketing campaigns on sexual and reproductive health. 

The site is called, Youth Social Marketing Toolkit (YSMT), a Step by Step Guide to Social Marketing for Community Groups Who Work with Youth. It is accessible through the CA PTC home page, http://stdhivtraining.org/.

“Social media is the fastest way to get the word out about a program,” says Rebecca Braun, Program Manager at CFHC, “If providers aren’t using social media, they should be. This site will help them by making it easy and fun.”

This web-based toolkit is designed to guide youth providers through each step of the development process with separate pages on specific topic areas. The topic areas range from What is social marketing?, which defines social marketing, to Do It!, which tells providers how to evaluate outcomes.  The site also offers a case study and campaign tools for additional assistance. Each page contains planning tools, examples and numerous links to additional resources.

Site Address:

http://www.stdhivtraining.org/ysmt_home.html

Contact:

Joyce Lisbin
Health Communication Coordinator
California STD Control Branch
(510) 231-7621
joyce.lisbin@cdph.ca.gov

About the California STD Control Branch:

The CA PTC provides training courses that are designed to meet the needs of a wide array of medical, health promotion, and community professionals serving persons and communities impacted by STD and HIV. Clinical care providers, prevention experts, program planners, counselors, educators and administrators are examples of appropriate participants. Small group discussions, interactive exercises, case studies, hands-on clinic practice, and a variety of visual media are used to enrich the applied learning experiences.

About the California Family Health Council:

CFHC coordinates and supports the delivery of health services in community-based organizations throughout California. The organization distributes federal Title X family planning funds to community agencies serving low income communities, and also provides those agencies with technical assistance, training and financial services. CFHC performs advanced research in reproductive health care and contraception, conducts education, training and community outreach efforts, and tests, implements and monitors effective programs.