2023 - #06: URGING THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TO ENCOURAGE STATES TO ADOPT COMPREHENSIVE SEX AND HEALTH EDUCATION STANDARDS THAT INCLUDE CONSENT CURRICULUM

WHEREAS, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was established in 1970 for the purpose of advocating, planning, and promoting the unique and special educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, NIEA as the largest national Native organization of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian educators, administrators, parents, and students in the United States, provides a forum to discuss and act upon issues affecting the education of Indian and Native people; and

WHEREAS, through its unique relationship with Native nations and tribes, the federal government has established programs and resources to meet the educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, residing on and off their reserved or non-reserved homelands; and

WHEREAS, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, particularly Native women, experience physical and/or sexual abuse or violence at higher rates compared to non-Native populations, and rates twice as high as Native men and Caucasian women; and

WHEREAS, only eight states (California, Hawaiʻi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia) require comprehensive sex and health education standards that include consent; and

WHEREAS, comprehensive sex and health education should include consent curriculum which empowers students to make informed decisions about their bodies and their lives; and

WHEREAS, the majority of federally-funded abstinence-only sex and health education programs fail at lowering teen pregnancy rates; and

WHEREAS, consent instruction has proven to empower students to understand communication, boundaries, and safe and healthy relationships, thus creating a comprehensive and quality sex and health education curriculum for students; and

WHEREAS, Native communities have long held coming of age traditions for their youths, including conversations around roles and responsibilities that youths take on as they grow up, especially as combined with sex, health, and biological conversations; and

WHEREAS, it is uniquely important to our communities to honor Native epistemologies, families, Tribal Nations, and communities in conversations around sex and health education programs; and

WHEREAS, research has consistently demonstrated that comprehensive sex and health education in schools, including consent instruction, is crucial in enabling students to have open conversations about sexuality, sexual health, and identity in order to better respond to sexual violence through instruction that stresses how to communicate sexual, relational, and reproductive boundaries.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Indian Education Association urges the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to increase funding and encourage states to adopt comprehensive sex and health education standards that include consent curriculum; and

BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED, that the National Indian Education Association calls upon Congress to pass new legislation and to increase funding to programs that support comprehensive sex and health education training, includes that which honors Native traditions and epistemologies, for teachers and provide sex education and sexual health services for students to make informed decisions about their bodies and their lives; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NIEA until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.