Volunteers Sought for HIV Project
An HIV/AIDS prevention program is looking for 12 to 15 Ventura County teens to work as peer educators.
The volunteers, who should be between the ages of 12 and 18, will spend 10 hours this summer learning to talk to other teens about HIV and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. They will also learn from people living with HIV and will receive information about other sexually transmitted diseases.
In the fall, Peer Education Program of Ventura volunteers will make presentations to other youths at schools, churches and group homes throughout the county. During the presentations, they will talk about myths and misconceptions about the disease, how HIV is transmitted and how it can be avoided.
The project is being modeled after Peer Education Program of Los Angeles, which has been working for nine years to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among teens and to raise the level of compassion for people with HIV.
Since its inception, the program has reached 48,000 teens throughout Southern California.
For more information, call project director Erin Kandel at (323) 937-0766.
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