COLOR

Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR)
Denver, CO

Mimi Madrid, 21, first became involved with COLOR, the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, in high school. Fast forward a few years, and she is the Youth and Reproductive Justice Programs Coordinator for the organization, founded in 2000 in Denver.

COLOR focuses primarily on sexual education and reproductive justice for young Latinas. Members and staff give presentations on health at local high schools and create workshops for youth, such as the Latina Health Summit on Oct. 10 in Denver. That day, young Latinas and their families will gather to hear guest speakers and discuss health and reproductive issues.

Madrid hopes to continue using a positive influence and comprehensive sexual education to lower the numbers of health problems in society today. “Sexual education is necessary,” she said. “If more young people would love their bodies the way they are, I feel like there would be so much more love and so much more responsibility.”

What are the benefits of educating teens through their peers rather than adults?

It just makes sense. When you hear advice from someone who has gone through it and looks like you and talks like you and knows where you’re coming from and doesn’t judge you, of course you’re going to listen. You’re going to be like, “Oh, that’s really true.”

When education is being done by peers, there’s no judgment. There’s more trust, and there’s more confidence, and there’s more understanding of where that person comes from. So, yeah, I can look up to an adult, but if there’s a young activist out there and he or she is doing amazing work, then I could be like, “Yeah, I can do that, too. I can make a change in the community, because my friend, who’s the same exact age that I am, can do it. Why can’t I?”

What are the benefits of sexual education to society?

I think that we are sexual human beings. And right now, how the environment is, we see sexuality as this embarrassing, shameful, bad thing. And so if we educate our society about sexuality, then I feel that there would be more empowerment in sexuality. I feel like there would be less of a lot of things: There would be less unwanted pregnancies, there would be less sexually transmitted infections.

What has been your biggest challenge?

I think one of the biggest challenges that we face – me and my coworkers and the young people who I work with – is there’s a lot of ageism. So because we are so young, people are like, “Really? What are you doing here?” or “Oh, you don’t have enough experience,” or all these different things. So I would say sometimes ageism and I also feel that something that comes up is that we are so young that sometimes we forget to relax and breathe and, you know, have fun sometimes.

What one piece of advice would you give to other kids who want to get involved with health activism?

I would say start small. If you have text, just send a text message about information to someone. Or you can help someone relax or, you know, take a friend out for a walk. I think those are the little things that really matter. I would also say that they can volunteer at organizations. Volunteering is one of the best things to do if you want to change the world.

Also, you have to start with a change inside. You have to change yourself if you’re always second-guessing yourself or just thinking, “I’m not that pretty. I’m not that smart.” You know, change that from within and be like, “Yeah, I’m beautiful, I’m smart, I’m intelligent,” and then pass it on to your friends, to other people.

Copyright 2009 Y-Press