Expanding the Constituency for Comprehensive Sexuality Education
By Rinku Sen and Kim Fellner, commissioned by the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Support in the United States for comprehensive sexuality education is overwhelming. Yet a small, vocal opposition and increasingly hostile public policy have deterred its implementation in many communities across the country.

The chasm between community needs and public policy prompted the Ms. Foundation for Women and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation to launch the New Partners/New Initiatives Project in 2001 to help build non-traditional constituencies who would stand up for reproductive health.

The three-year initiative, housed at the Ms. Foundation with funding from the Packard Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, ultimately supported eight groups in two underserved regions—Eastern Washington State and Southern Arizona.

This report describes the New Partners/ New Initiatives Program, details the experiences of the foundations and the grantee organizations and reflects on the lessons that emerged.