Heidi Iseda of Los Angeles, a WFWP member and coordinator of the Clean Slate program, has been busy traveling the US training people who want to spread the message of the ground-breaking Relationship Intelligence Training curriculum. Clean Slate is an education program that promotes youth leadership and teen awareness on the means of preventing HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and premature pregnancy. The program provides teens with the opportunity to develop self-confidence and relationship skills so they can become more personally motivated and build successful relationships. With these tools, teens better understand the role of sex in their lives and recognize the risks involved with alcohol, drugs, and premarital sex. Heidi's tour has made stops in Colorado, Los Angeles, and the San FranciscoBay Area to groups grateful to learn the curriculum…

Following the "Turning Point" Assembly in Las Vegas, women in the WFWP San Francisco Bay Area division continued work on their local projects with renewed vigor. One of the projects the women are getting involved with is the Clean Slate Project, an original program and curriculum offered by WFWP, designed for young people who want to renew their commitment to purity. They held a meeting recently with those interested and formed a committee. Sarah Brown and Liz Buergi, both of Northern California, who are both passionate about this project, will be the co-chairs. When asked what inspired her to get involved with this project, Mrs. Brown replied: "I see there is a real need for abstinence education, especially in the state of California. When I was in college, I saw…

LIFE Spa Event in San Francisco Bay Area Inspired by Jennifer Siebel Newsom's documentary Miss Representation, on June 24, LIFE Spa (a project of WFWP San Francisco Bay Area) held a discussion on the consequences of media portrayals of women. The presentation by Philaine Seher and Ann Helen Monnesland interspersed facts and figures with clips from the documentary, highlighting the damaging portrayal of women in the media and prompting the question, "What can we do about it?" Some of the presentation's main points included: The media portrayal of women is shallow, as the women shown are inevitably young and beautiful. The media's consistent message is that value comes from appearance. This message is internalized, leading to negative consequences, including increased depression, eating disorders, etc. among women. One consequence is lower…

More than 40 people gathered at the Sura Korean Restaurant in Oakland, California to attend the March monthly Dinner Forum of the UNA USA East Bay Chapter which was co-sponsored by WFWP. The featured speaker was Daphne Phong, founder and CEO of California Against Slavery, a non-profit organization working to stop sex trafficking. Ms Phong gave an overview of what is happening in California in the area of sex trafficking emphasizing that it isn't just that people are being brought in from overseas but that American children are being forced into sex slavery at a growing rate. She explained that because of weak laws in California related to this crime, the practice is growing at a rapid rate. In fact, Ms Phong explained that sex trafficking is the second fastest…

In February, LIFE Spa considered traditional female roles in the family, and participants reflected on the functions they find themselves serving in their families. Central to the event's discussion was engaging women in understanding how they had come to their positions, and empowering them to consciously choose the roles that would best serve them and their families. Participants of the March 18 LIFE Spa event "Femininities in Question, Part II: What do Women Expect from their Men?" extended the theme of February's event, exploring female roles in the family vis-à-vis male roles, probing the traditional dichotomy of male/female. Based on the premise that one can often better understand one's own role in counterdistinction to the roles of others, the ten women in attendance considered the binary of male and female…