REMARKS
Council Member Farah N. Louis introduces hearing on comprehensive sexual health education
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Council Member Farah N. Louis, chair of the Committee on Women and Gender Equity, introduces a joint hearing on comprehensive sexual health education in NYC schools. She emphasizes the importance of this education and outlines the legislation to be discussed, including her own resolution on human trafficking curriculum.
- Louis highlights the vulnerability of marginalized youth to sexual exploitation
- She mentions that 988 youth were served in 2020 for being at risk or experiencing sexual exploitation
- The hearing will include testimony from the administration, advocates, students, and other stakeholders
Farah N. Louis
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Thank you, chair Joseph.
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Good afternoon, everyone.
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My name is Farrah Lewis, and I'm the chair of the Committee on Women and Gender Equity.
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I'd like to begin by thanking my colleague, council member Joseph, chair of the committee on education, for holding this important hearing.
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I'd also like to welcome everyone who is joining us here this afternoon.
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We appreciate your time and participation.
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Today, we are here to speak about the importance of comprehensive sexual health education in our schools.
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Comprehensive sexual health education helps teach students how to make responsible choices and better understand themselves.
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In addition to our discussion on sexual health education, we will also be discussing a bill and 3 resolutions.
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This includes my own resolution, which would call upon the Department of Education to require age appropriate human trafficking curriculum and instruction for students in grades k through 12.
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In 2020, the administration of children services, the department of youth and community development, and safe harbor providers served a total of 988 youth that were referred as self reported as or determined to be sexually exploited or at risk for sexual exploitation.
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According to ACS, marginalized youth are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
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This includes immigrant, LGBTQ plus, and homeless runaway youth, as well as young people that are in foster care and juvenile justice systems.
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Providing this education in our schools can help ensure that as many youth as possible in our city have the tools to help protect themselves.
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The committees look forward to hearing from the administration, advocates, students, members of the public, and other interested stakeholders who have taken the time to come here today to join us for this conversation.
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We thank you all.
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I would also like to thank my own staff as well as those of other committees who work hard to prepare for this hearing.
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Finally, I'd like to thank the Women and Gender Equity Committee staff, legislative counsel, Sahar Moazami, senior legislative policy analyst, Kristi Dreyer, legislative counsel, Rachel Conte, Ali Stouffer, financial analyst, and Rose Martinez, assistant deputy director for data operations unit.
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Now I'll pass it back to chair Joseph.
