Field Placement: MotherNet L.A.
Location: Compton, CA
Preceptor: Katie Eilers, MPH
Student Name: Raquel Renteria Beloney
Year: 2004

Teen Sexual Health Project

MotherNet L.A. (MNLA) is a community-based family support program and resource center that serves as a critical support system for at-risk pregnant women and teens, parents and their children. This center is part of a larger non-profit organization, INMED Partnerships for Children, which works around the world to build partnerships and implement programs that strengthen the ability of families and communities to raise healthy, educated children who have increased opportunities for the future. Established in 1994, MNLA is one of INMED’s domestic programs working towards improving the lives of children and families in Compton, California. MotherNet L.A.’s goal is to help parents give their children a healthy start in life and create an environment that enables then to achieve their full potential. Through an integrated range of in-home, center-based and community-based education, outreach, support and health access services, MNLA strengthens families and builds the capacity of the community to sustain positive change.

During my internship, I worked with Katie Eilers, Director of MotherNet L.A. and Daniel Fletcha, MNLA’s only male outreach worker. My main project was the Teen Sexual Health Project which is part of a new fatherhood initiative and teen/young adult outreach program that MNLA just began in 2004. The Teen Sexual Health Project was designed to provide primary and secondary preventive education to teens and young adults through local high schools. My main objective was to create a curriculum (and evaluation measures) for classes to be facilitated at local high schools and to pilot test the curriculum at our target site: Compton SEA, an alternative high school for probationary youth. The curriculum was to include sections on reducing risky sexual behaviors, abstinence, reproduction, contraception, teen parenthood and sexually transmitted infections.

Another project that I worked on during my internship was co-organizing MNLA’s 3rd Annual Immunization Fair. The fair was part of a larger effort presented by the Compton Family Health Collaborative (CFHC). The CFHC consists of several community-based organizations, local health care providers, the St. Francis Medical Center, and Los Angeles County SPA 6 Public Health Programs and Services who are all dedicated to improving the health and well-being of families. Each community site that hosts a fair works with the CFHC in coordinating all aspects of their fair including advertising/promoting the event, pre-registration of vendors, health screenings, entertainment, and incentives.

The other project that I worked on during my internship was conducting background research for an economic development project that MNLA is looking into obtaining funding for. MNLA is interested in developing a project that would assist community members in obtaining financial stability. One idea is to provide micro-loans and training to those interested in starting family child care businesses. My objective was to gather information about the requirements of becoming a licensed family child care provider and all the steps involved in the process as well as to gather data for a needs assessment demonstrating the dearth of child care providers in Compton.

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