Impact Report 2020
Activated Engaged Connected
A message from leadership
As the longest-serving provider of reproductive healthcare in the
District, one of the most diverse areas of the country, PPMW has
always understood the importance of high-quality, non-judgemental
care. In a city where Black people make up the greatest plurality of
residents, the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism have
starkly highlighted that access to quality health care is a critical need
and a fragile right. For PPMW, it was a year of change, resilience,
overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, and strength in the
face of devastating hardship.
Committed to expanding our patients’ access to healthcare during
multiple crises in 2020, PPMW continued to put our patients at the
center of our work by increasing our telehealth service offerings...
THANK YOU
PPMW extends its gratitude to the following former Board of Directors who served our mission honorably throughout their tenure until June 2020. Most of these dedicated individuals were termed off in 2019. They agreed to serve an additional year, through the COVID crisis, to ensure our stability.
Our sincerest thanks and appreciation are extended to each of them.
Anne Large, Cheri Mohr and Audrey Taylor
EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
HEALTH SERVICES
Care. No Matter What.
EDUCATION
Teach, Train, Mentor & Connect!
PPMW’s education programs, in-person and virtually, are high quality, medically accurate and culturally informed, with an emphasis on serving youth experiencing vulnerabilities.
In FY 2020, PPMW's education department served over 8,000 youth through education workshops, parent and family programs, Evidence Informed Interventions (EIIs), and the training of professionals. PPMW is continuously evolving to find new and innovative ways of addressing the needs of youth that are disproportionately affected by health disparities and research has shown that youth are most likely to trust the opinions and information of their peers.
A tactic to address disparities in youth outcomes is through the PPMW peer health education program, a proven method of reaching youth with comprehensive health information and linkage to care. The purpose of the program is to provide youth with the education and opportunities they need to gain sexual reproductive health knowledge, job readiness skills, and become effective public health ambassadors.
85% of our programming reaches youth 11 - 18 years old.
Programs
Our range of programs include: Evidence Informed Interventions, individual and multi-session workshops, intergenerational communication programs, Peer Health Navigator program and weekend programming. PPMW serves the community broadly through community events, digital platforms such as Our Voices, Our Choices social media accounts, and other community engagements to promote health education as well as PPMW’s clinical and advocacy work.
In response to COVID-19, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington has transformed many of our sexual and reproductive health workshops into a virtual format to be used for live virtual teaching with a health educator or as pre-recorded webinars. Accessing these resources are available for all school and community-based organizations who are utilizing these services to meet the needs of the youth and young adults in the greater Washington region.
Peer Education
Spill the Tea
In FY20 we expanded our work through the Spill the Tea Events.
We invite you to join us for Spill the Tea, a conversational series for womxn to come and talk about gender norms and how they have an effect on womxn's ability to make choices about sexual health. We explore creating your best sex life, practicing safer sex, breaking gender norms, and building healthy relationships. We go LIVE on Tuesday’s every month on Instagram: @PPMWDC
Due to COVID-19, we had to move our events into a virtual format, allowing us to utilize our Instagram platform. Our engagement increased significantly, we reached 539 individuals through Spill the Tea. Additionally, we were able to leverage existing community partnerships to incorporate guest speakers into our events. Moving our Spill the Tea events to Instagram also forced us to develop content that was related to, but not strictly about, HIV prevention. We were able to explore topics such as gender norms, sexuality, communication, and identifying medically accurate and affirming resources, all of which impact an individual's ability to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
Birth Control Kit
In April 2020, PPMW launched Digital Professional Development sessions in conjunction with the Birth Control Educator Kit. These optional one-on-one sessions were developed by PPMW’s experienced health educators to provide supplemental training on teaching barrier methods, best practices with birth control, and incorporating reproductive justice into the lessons.
According to 2019 CDC data, black women account for 6 in 10 new HIV infections, with Latinas following not too far behind.
PPMW’s Out of School Time program currently centers on SIHLE (Sisters, Informing, Healing, Living and Empowering), a multi-session Center for Disease Control Evidence Informed Intervention. This program is a social-skills training intervention that emphasizes ethnic and gender pride among female-identified participants to reduce sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies. PPMW developed “SIHLE Plus” which expands on the original SIHLE curriculum, adding birth control methods and adult preparation subjects.
Meet Lena
Spotlight on SIHLE...
“This year it made me look at my future
life better and more planned than before”
--Education Program Participant
In FY20, PPMW graduated 120
SIHLE participants; 80% of SIHLE Plus participants showed increased knowledge, 85% of participants
indicate SIHLE Plus is an engaging program that builds community amongst peers. We are able to investigate the outcomes and see
that participants have mastered technical subjects such as birth control methods and STI prevention, but that there are lower scores for healthy relationships. Knowing this, we can adjust our programming to increase comprehension and activities in
this area.
Last year, PPMW onboarded 18 peer educators, 10 during the school year and 8 summer participants, and reached 400 youth through formal and informal presentations in schools and after school. Results from the cohort showed that 100% felt more confident talking about sexual and reproductive health, about Planned Parenthood’s services, and felt supported by the organization in their efforts. Youth felt most confident talking about birth control (100%), consent (100%), and abortion (88.9%), while they felt less confident talking about anatomy (33.3%) - which has led us to increase a focus on anatomy during the orientation period.
Partnerships
In the past 5 years, PPMW has been intentional in building community trust and establishing a reciprocal relationship with program participants and community partners to provide education that is highly requested but also be involved in community decisions that impact Montgomery County. Based on feedback from program participants, our bilingual health educator built a curriculum on menopause and breast cancer awareness. Because of COVID-19, program participants asked for menstrual hygiene products; we were able to connect to Support the Girls, a non-profit organization bringing access to menstrual products. Since May 2020, we have provided 60 families with monthly supplies of menstrual pads, tampons, bras and underwear.
In the past year PPMW has engaged with a network of Latina women in the metropolitan area; PPMW believes that community strength lies in listening to community needs and determining how best to provide support. In Montgomery County, PPMW has successfully established new and expanded collaborations with other community-based organizations working toward our common goals
Partnerships are the key component to our success and PPMW has a robust network of partners, particularly with DC Public Charter Schools, D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) administrators and teachers, DC Health and Wellness, community centers, and faith based organizations.
In March 2020, we relied heavily on our existing relationships to move education into a virtual environment and these partnerships will allow us to continue successful virtual programming throughout the year.
Our trusted partnerships allow us to reach a diverse group of audiences through education sessions, virtual workshops, and coalition meetings.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Public Affairs/Volunteer Engagement
This year, despite historic challenges, our Public Affairs team continued our advocacy work across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. As we pivoted to all virtual activity with the onset of the pandemic, we found new ways to engage our communi-ties and expand access to critical health care services.
Throughout FY20, our Public Affairs team worked with coalition partners to successfully pass and fund the Strengthening Reproductive Health Protections Amendment Act, which for the first time codified into DC law the right to access an abortion without governmental interference. PPMW was integral to the bill’s swift passage, leading a coalition of partners to produce more than 20 supportive witnesses to testify at the bill’s hearing, including PPMW’s Medical Director Dr. Serina Floyd and volunteer patient advocate Brittany House.
At the grand re-opening of our Gaithersburg health center in October 2019, Dr. Laura Meyers welcomed Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich and MD state Senator Cheryl Kagan to the festivities. Sen. Kagan presented Dr. Meyers and the Gaithersburg facility with a citation honoring PPMW’s contribution to the community.
In the 2020 legislative session, PPMW joined Planned Parenthood of Maryland and other partners to advocate for expanded healthcare access, including expanding access to telehealth services.
What an exciting year for access to reproductive health care in Virginia! Virginia’s 2020 legislative session was the first in the Common-wealth's history with pro-reproductive health majorities in both chambers of the legislature and a pro-reproductive health Governor.
Developing
Leaders
Program
PPMW celebrates another successful year of the
Developing Leaders Program, now in its 8th year.
DLP is a 9-month long, volunteer-led
program for young adults passionate
about reproductive health, rights, and justice and learning to be effective leaders in this space. There are over 265 rising leaders already trained, including 45 last year.
"When They go Low we go Local"
In addition to PPMW’s advocacy work, local advocacy is also spearheaded by Planned Parenthood Advocates for DC, Maryland & NoVa (PPADMV), a 501(c)(4) social welfare advocacy organization that PPMW shares with Planned Parenthood of Maryland (PPM). PPADMV works throughout DC, Northern
Virginia, and the entire State of Maryland to protect and expand access to
reproductive health care and build local power to influence and promote
accountability among state and local policy makers.
DEVELOPMENT
In fiscal year 2020, PPMW raised $7,022,981.00.
YOUR IMPACT MADE
A DIFFERENCE
In addition to Health Services, Education and Advocacy Programming and Volunteerism, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington DC (PPMW) champions multiple impact opportunities every year. These programs, special groups, and events have the purpose of community building, engagement, as well as critical fundraising. Our donors, sponsors, community partners, volunteers and staff make the work that we do and our ability to expand and do more possible.
CONTRACEPTIVE
EQUITY FUND
Contraceptive Equity Fund offers patients financial assistance in choosing their preferred birth control method. There are many different types of birth control and every woman has the right to choose which method of birth control is right for her needs...
Virtual IMPACT GALA
Photo Above: Zoom Image of Co-Chairs and Laura, Backstage Photo and Thank you Impact Makers
Our annual signature event, the 2020 IMPACT GALA celebrated the Impact Makers of PPMW. This virtual live online event was live-streamed and exceeded the fundraising goal for gala 2020. Highlights of the program included remarks by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Planned Parenthood president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson and special performances by the Gay Men’s Chorus.
LIBERTY CIRCLE
Liberty Circle (LC) members donate between $250 and $4999 every year. These individuals
contribute over $1.7million each year. Their annual commitment ensures that our doors stay open. LC Membership includes access to our private Facebook community and special events.
LEGACY CIRCLE
PPMW’s Legacy Circle is our planned giving society. This dedicated group of supporters have made the deepest commitment to reproductive and equitable healthcare. By making PPMW a part of their estate plans or other...
Virginia Leadership Council
The Virginia Leadership Council (VLC) was formed in January 2020 in preparation for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC’s (PPMW) strategic initiative to expand health care in Northern Virginia. VLC plays a critical role in building PPMW’s base of support in Virginia. In partnership with PPMW staff, the
VLC will share responsibility for establishing and growing relationships with local donors, shaping funding opportunities in the region, and developing strategies for effective communication with local constituents.
YOUR SUPPORT MAKES IMPACT POSSIBLE
