The Social Innovation Laboratory (SIL) was awarded a Competitive Sexual Risk Avoidance Education grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. As part of this two-year project named ‘The Kansas Better Futures Expansion Project", SIL is making the Love Notes-Sexual Risk Avoidance (Love Notes-SRA) materials and supplemental resources available to students enrolled in Family and Consumer Science classes in the state of Kansas in cooperation with the Kansas Chapter of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America.

 

The Love Notes content encourages them to learn more about themselves and supports them in cultivating a vision for their future. It also empowers them with the skills needed to further their own personal development and build their skill capacity to follow through with their intentions. These skills help youth reap the benefits associated with self-regulation.  Love Notes-SRA provides vision building, skills, guides and frameworks to raise youth’s confidence that they can develop healthy selves and healthy relationships. 

 

Youth will learn about consent, how to set boundaries, how to identify early signs of dating violence, and what sexual coercion is. It also will raise awareness of how children are harmed by destructive parental and partner relationships. Love Notes-SRA is an adaptation of Relationship Smarts Plus, which has been tested and is listed in the National Registry of Evidence based Programs and Practices, a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  After each lesson there is a trusted-adult activity to build a bond by communicating with a parent, caring adult, or mentor about these topics.