Bellevue College Receives Funding to Support Students’ Sexual Reproductive Health
Oct 8, 2024The Institute for Women’s Policy Research recently awarded Bellevue College $75,000 to expand and support student sexual reproductive health awareness and education.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research recently awarded Bellevue College $75,000 through its Connect for Success Initiative.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. Connect for Success is a national initiative that aims to study and expand partnerships and service delivery models to meet community college students’ sexual and reproductive needs through a grantmaking and learning community.
Bellevue College will use the grant money to expand and support its Healthy Campus Project, a campuswide health education initiative made possible through a partnership with the King County Eastgate Public Health Center’s sexual reproductive health program. Services made available through the project include access to contraception, such as free condoms, and sexual health resources and education through workshops and events. As part of the project, students requiring medical attention for an unwanted pregnancy are referred to the Eastgate Public Health Center and/or its Teen Clinic, which serves students up to age 21 and is less than half a mile away from Bellevue College’s campus.
With help from the grant money, Bellevue College was able to centralize its Healthy Campus Project services at one location through the creation of the “Health Promotion and Management (HPM) Hub: Health Resources for Every Body.” The HPM Hub is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday in the T-Building (near Room 205) on Bellevue College’s campus. Staffed by students, the HPM Hub offers free internal and external condoms, lubrication, a limited supply of Plan B, and resources for patient care, mental health, healthy relationships, melanoma, transgender students, and more.
“Our goal is to promote health equity and access to resources,” said Tamara Boynton Howard, program chair and associate professor within Bellevue College’s Healthcare Promotion and Education program. “It’s not just women’s health; it’s cancer prevention, how to talk to your doctor, and understand your medical bill. We consistently run out of information on gender dysphoria.”
Boynton Howard said the hope for the HPM Hub is it will make resources more accessible to students, including those who are underserved or marginalized. Bellevue College has established partnerships with organizations specializing in cultural and linguistic competency so that resources can be offered in multiple languages.
As part of the Healthy Campus Project, students will also have access to more sexual reproductive health products through the college’s new vending machine, which will be stocked with Plan B, pregnancy tests, Naloxone – a medicine used to counteract overdoses–ibuprofen, and more. The $10,000 vending machine was funded by the college’s Services and Activities fund during the 2023-24 academic year and will be installed in the C-Building (Student Union) next spring. Bellevue College also received an additional $10,000 from the Washington Student Achievement Council to support the purchase of additional vending machine products.
“College students are typically of reproductive age, and they need to know they have options for taking control of their health and their futures,” Boynton Howard said. “Bellevue College wants to support our students in whatever path they choose. Educating them about their bodies, sexual health, and the many choices they have is one way we can do that.”